Read more
Unable to achieve sustained military success in the Civil War, the Confederacy tried a daring strategy in 1864--commando-style raids into northern states from Canada. Taking advantage of the undefended border, rebels hit targets along the Great Lakes, where growing antiwar sentiment was an election-year problem for the Lincoln administration.
Revisiting one of the forgotten chapters of the war, this is a deeply-researched history of the South's operations in Canada. One of the most significant raids is covered in detail for the first time: Virginia planter turned Confederate agent John Yates Beall's attempt to liberate 2,700 Confederate officers from a prison camp on Lake Erie.
List of contents
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Preface
¿1.¿The Prisoner
¿2.¿The Island
¿3.¿The Prison
¿4.¿First Arrivals
¿5.¿Rebels on the Island
¿6.¿A Plan Emerges in Canada
¿7.¿A Meeting in Richmond
¿8.¿"Fire in the Rear"
¿9.¿Pirates on Chesapeake Bay
10.¿Life on the Island
11.¿The Northwest Conspiracy Takes Shape
12.¿Confederate Commissioners Head to Canada
13.¿Battle Plans and Diplomacy
14.¿A Gathering in Chicago
15.¿Hard Times on the Island
16.¿"I Seize This Boat and Take You as Prisoner"
17.¿A Confederate Flag Flies on Lake Erie
18.¿A Telegram from Detroit
19.¿Chase and Escape
20.¿Aftermath
21.¿A Visitor to Montreal
22.¿The Ill-Fated Voyage of the CSS Georgian
23.¿A Train from Sandusky
24.¿Behind Bars on Mulberry Street
25.¿The Trial
26.¿Cries for Mercy
27.¿The Execution
Epilogue
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Ralph Lindeman is a former trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and later worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C. where he covered the White House and Congress.
