Adelbert Ames, the Civil War, and the Creation of Modern America

Michael J. Megelsh is assistant professor of history at Blue Mountain Christian University. The author of numerous scholarly articles, he has also taught courses at Georgia Southern University and Auburn University.

"Adelbert Ames lived a big life. He was the first colonel of the 20th Maine, one of the legendary 'boy generals,' Reconstruction governor of Mississippi, enemy of Jesse James, and commander of troops in the Spanish-American War. In this long-overdue biography, Michael J. Megelsh skillfully tells Ames's remarkable story with all the flavor and nuance that it deserves." -Kenneth W. Noe, author of The Howling Storm: Weather, Climate, and the American Civil War "Michael J. Megelsh dives deep into the fascinating life of the longest-lived Union major general, Aldebert Ames. Ames was at the crosscurrent of almost every major development in American history in the latter half of the 19th century. Educated at West Point, he fought and led troops at Bull Run, Gettysburg, and Fort Fisher. Postwar he was elected senator for and then governor of Mississippi, where he unsuccessfully fought the rise of the Red Shirts. He then embarked on a highly successful business career, with one break to serve as a general in the Spanish-American War." -John G. Selby, author of Meade: The Price of Command, 1863-1865 "In this extensively researched and well-written new biography, author Michael J. Megelesh brings Adelbert Ames back to life, recounting the general's stellar war record and his tumultuous years in Reconstruction-era Mississippi politics." -Steve French, author of Phantoms of the South Fork: Captain McNeill and His Rangers "Michael J. Megelsh's biography of General Adelbert Ames presents his underappreciated Civil War record in an honest yet critical manner. However, it is his description of Reconstruction in Mississippi that sets this book in a class of its own. The efforts made by the resurgent Democratic Party to return the state to its antebellum days is as disturbing as it it powerful. The incorruptible general turned Republican governor was one of their many casualties." -Thomas E. Parson, author of Work for Giants: The Campaign and Battle of Tupelo/Harrisburg, Mississippi, June-July 1864