Publication of Note | December 2023
Gary W. Gallagher, ed. “The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862” Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
*Throughout 2023, the “Publication of Note” portion of the newsletter will feature some of the director’s favorite collections of essays relevant to the Civil War era in the Shenandoah Valley.
Arguably no campaign ever waged in the Shenandoah Valley has received more attention than Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign. While many excellent books, including those penned by Robert Tanner and Peter Cozzens, illuminate the campaign’s flow and consequences, this volume offers important insight into the campaign. This volume contains an array of outstanding essays focused on a bevy of topics including the Union generals Jackson confronted, and how Jackson’s victories in the Shenandoah forged his reputation, as well as explores the appeal of Confederate general Turner Ashby. Additionally, this volume offers a significant analysis of the campaign’s impact on the Shenandoah Valley’s civilians — whether Unionist or Confederate, white or Black — written by Jonathan Berkey. Although published two decades ago, this volume, like all of Gallagher’s volumes, continues to stand the test of time and is necessary for any serious student of the conflict in the Shenandoah.
