Portals To Hell

PORTALS TO HELL, the Military Prisons of the Civil War, by Lonnie R. Speer, is the first conprehensive study of all Civil War military prisons ever presented. It is a complete reference, listing prisons and their dates of operation written in a chronological order of development. It has become a modern-day Civil War classic itself, spawning many individal prison studies since its publication in 1997.
PORTALS TO HELL gives new insight into the logistical and political problems involved in holding prisoners of war, as humane ideals in the beginning often gave way to ever-burgeoning prison populations, local opinion, and vindictive commanders and guards. This ultimate work on Civil War prisons and prisoners covers all aspects of prison life for soldiers on both sides: the lack of adequate shelter; the prisoner exchange program; escapes and escape attempts; the women and black prisoners; political prisoners; and the developing problems of food, vermin, illness, and death within each institution.

The holding of prisoners of war has always been both a political and a military enterprise, yet the military prisons of the Civil War, which held more than four hundred thousand soldiers and caused the deaths of fifty-six thousand men, remained nearly forgotten in the years after the conflict. Recognizing this, Speer set out to bring back to life these least-known participants in this great struggle between the Union and the Confederacy, using their own words and observations as they endured a true “hell on earth.” Drawing on scores of previously unpublished firsthand accounts, PORTALS TO HELL presents the prisoners’ experiences in great detail and from an impartial perspective while seeking to analyze the many complexities in the relationships among prisoners, guards, commandants, and government leaders.

According to Civil War Times Illustrated, PORTALS TO HELL is "An excellent work; a full and excellent treatment of Civil War prisons. Based on prodigious research in governmental records and manuscript collections, the book offers a judicious and balanced study of a controversial subject. Speer's writing is thorough, detailed, and unblinking. He spares neither side, offering solid evidence to support his critical assessments."

(Stackpole Books, HB 1997, 410 pp., notes, bib., index, illus; PB, 2005, Bison Books, Nebraska University Press) HB: $35, PB:$25 postpaid.

Magazine Articles

In addition to having a number of books published since 1997, Speer has had hundreds of magazine articles published in a wide range of history-related periodicals since 1983. These include such publications as Civil War Times, Civil War Times Illustrated, America's Civil War, Civil War Book Review, Military History, True West, Old West, True Treasure, Lost Treasure, Western & Eastern Treasures, World War II and Filipina magazines.

Lonnie has also lectured extensively on the Civil War's prisons and POWs at a number of schools and universities, various Civil War organizations and many historical societies all across the USA, including all along the east coast as far north as Albany, New York, as far south as Miami, Florida, and as far west as Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Kansas City, Missouri.

A Brief History of Meacham Park, MO

A Brief History of Meacham Park, Missouri by Lonnie R. Speer, in collaboration with Bill Jones & Garnet Thies. A history of one of the nation's first Afro-American suburbs from its very beginning and development back in 1892. (St Louis: privately published, 100 pp., bibliog. illus., 1998)

This totally unique St. Louis suburb has struggled ever since it was established to preserve its own heritage. It has remained one of the few predominately black communities in history to resist urban renewal throughout the 1950s, 60s and 80s.

110th AAA: Driving Hitler's Crawlin' Coffin

110th AAA: Driving Hitler's Crawlin' Coffin, A Young GI's Account of WWII from D-Day to the Rhine by Lonnie R. Speer.

"Hitler's Crawlin' Coffin" was an 18-ton M-4 high-speed artillery tractor that crept up out of the surf onto "Dog-Green Omaha Beach" hauling a 90mm anti-aircraft gun and its crew for the 110th AAA Battalion during the D-Day invasion of Europe.

The 110th AAA would go on to become the FIRST 90mm Gun Battalion to shoot down a German plane on French soil, the FIRST American AA unit to enter Paris, chosen to guard First Army Headquarters at Spa Belgium, and then go on to distinction during the Battle of the Bulge and, later, in the protection of the Remagen Bridge.

Xlibris Publishing, 2006, 323 pp, Battalion Roster, Appendixes, Notes, Bibliog., Index, Illus.)

HB: $30, PB: $20 postpd.

War of Vengeance

WAR OF VENGEANCE, Acts of Retaliation Against Civil War POWs by Lonnie R. Speer. The violent retaliation between both sides in the American Civil War was perhaps most apparent in the taking of prisoners. Often, these retaliatory measures were enacted against the innocent-prisoners who were unfortunate enough to be in wrong place at the wrong time. Each chapter of this book undertakes to describe a specific event of retaliatory action one side took against the other. Speer takes no sides as he points an accusing finger at both the Union and the Confederacy for their equal parts in treating the prisoners poorly and sometimes with just plain vengeance. Speer points out that this war was a vicious conflict that developed an intense hatred between the opposing sides, despite some historians' assertions that this was history's last great "gentleman's war," and that the conflict was anything but civil. There is ample evidence to suggest that both sides quite commonly retaliated against one another throughout the conflict, often in chillingly inhumane ways.

Speer explores this little-known wartime violence against the POWs, focusing on the most notorious and well-documented cases. (Stackpole Books, 2002, 190 pp., Notes, Bibliog., Index, Illus.) HB: $20 postpaid

Mirror of My Past

MIRROR OF MY PAST, Reflections of a Filipina After Immigrating to America, by Melba Speer --Lonnie's wife -- is a reflection of the author looking back at her life growing up in the Philippines and how she is now able to see many of the events of growing up quite differently with more experience in life. Sometimes emotional but always brutally honest, she lovingly explores the complex Asian mother-daughter relationship and provides deep insight into the events that affected her so as she was growing up. She tells of her struggles within her own family to make her wishes and dreams of coming to America known. And how the prejudices among her own relatives and in her own neighborhood had a profound affect on her childhood

and of how she had often fantasized of leaving the Philippines and going to America -- perhaps, in part, to fulfill the lifelong wish of her grandfather who had fought along side American troops during World War II; And how he, himself, had filled her with many stories about America and about Americans before she had even reached school age. As a result, the author tells of the heartbreaking episodes of growing up poor with her close-net loving family and, eventually, how a change in environment can sometimes create a whole new outlook on life and the lives of everyone close to her.

MIRROR OF MY PAST reflects on her life as Melba finally succeeds gambling with her future, benumbed with the attitude Bahala na (come what may) getting to America to realize her dreams. Finding it much diffferent than she had ever imagined, Melba is greatful and thankful for fortunately finding a loving and caring older man and realizes how much she has changed, herself, by the experience. Once regarded as a tremendous obligation to her family, Melba is now looked upon as the matriarch of the clan. MIRROR OF MY PAST explains how that came to be. (Xlibris Publishinng, 2007, 177 pp., notes, illus.) HB: $30; PB: $20 postpaid.