Big Bethel: The First Battle (VA) (Civil War Sesquicentennial Series) (The Civil War Sesquicentennial Series)

The battle at Big Bethel Church, known as the Civil War's first land battle, was a baptism of fire for a nation newly torn apart by civil war. Northern and Southern soldiers alike could not imagine how fiery passions and technological advances would collide into America's bloodiest war, all beginning that hot, cloudless day at Bethel, as the shells burst among the smartly clad Zouaves. Here, the war saw its first friendly fire incident, the death of the first West Point graduate, the death of the first Confederate infantryman and the first Confederate victory. Join award-winning historian John Quarstein as he details the story of the June 10, 1861 battle, when soldiers first realized that the war would not be filled with glorious parades but rather desperate struggles to decide the fate of the nation.

Other books in the Civil War Sesquicentennial Series include:The Battle of Antietam♦ The Battle of Franklin♦ The Chancellorsville Campaign♦ The Battle of South Mountain♦ Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign♦ Charleston Under Siege♦ Andersonville Civil War Prison♦ The Civil War at Perryville♦ The Battle of Okolona♦ Fort Davidson and the Battle of Pilot Knobb♦ The Two Civil War Battles of Newtonia♦ The Battle of Port Royal♦ The Confederacy's Secret Weapon♦ Lee in the Lowcountry♦ Defending South Carolina's Coast♦ Facing Sherman in South Carolina♦ The Battle of Brandy Station♦ The Battle of Cedar Creek♦ The Battle of Fredericksburg♦ The Battle of Piedmont♦ The Battle of New Market Heights♦ The Battle of Mine Creek♦ West Virginia in the Civil War♦ Civil War Atlanta♦ The Battle of Westport♦ The Union is Dissolved♦ The Battle of Fort Donelson