Publication of the Quarter

James I. Robertson, Jr. “Civil War Echoes: Voices from Virginia, 1860-1891” (Richmond: Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, 2016). $19.95. ISBN: 978-0-9834012-6-1. 

During the sesquicentennial, the Library of Virginia conducted a massive statewide effort to digitize primary materials in private collections. The effort yielded more than 35,000 documents and photographs which are now available online at Virginia Memory’s JAMES I ROBERTSON JR CIVIL WAR SESQUICENTENNIAL LEGACY COLLECTION.

At the end of the sesquicentennial, distinguished Civil War historian Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr. (the graduate mentor of CWI’s director) utilized some of those documents—ones that have never before been made public—to produce a superb book which provides a compelling look at the Civil War era in Virginia. Through the letters of civilians and soldiers, Union and Confederate, this book provides a glimpse of our nation’s most pivotal and tragic period through the lens of those who endured our American Iliad. For those interested in Virginia’s Civil War or the human side of the conflict in the Old Dominion, Robertson’s volume is essential.