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The University of North Carolina Press
640 pp., 61/8 x 91/4, 13 illus., 13 maps, append., notes, bibl., index
Civil War America
Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign
In the spring of 1862, Federal troops under the command of General George B. McClellan launched what was to be a coordinated, two-pronged attack on Richmond in the hope of taking the Confederate capital and bringing a quick end to the Civil War. The Confederate high command tasked Stonewall Jackson with diverting critical Union resources from this drive, a mission Jackson fulfilled by repeatedly defeating much larger enemy forces. His victories elevated him to near iconic status in both the North and the South and signaled a long war ahead. One of the most intriguing and storied episodes of the Civil War, the Valley Campaign has heretofore only been related from the Confederate point of view. With Shenandoah 1862, Peter Cozzens dramatically and conclusively corrects this shortcoming, giving equal attention to both Union and Confederate perspectives.
Based on a multitude of primary sources, Cozzens's groundbreaking work offers new interpretations of the campaign and the reasons for Jackson's success. Cozzens also demonstrates instances in which the mythology that has come to shroud the campaign has masked errors on Jackson's part. In addition, Shenandoah 1862 provides the first detailed appraisal of Union leadership in the Valley Campaign, with some surprising conclusions.
Moving seamlessly between tactical details and analysis of strategic significance, Cozzens presents the first balanced, comprehensive account of a campaign that has long been romanticized but never fully understood.
"Cozzens is . . . a master of Civil War military history at tactical and operational levels. He deploys a large body of unfamiliar primary material in this detailed analysis of a campaign less one-sided than the accepted view that it represented Union blundering and the triumph of Confederate planning and execution, signaling the emergence of one of history's great generals, Stonewall Jackson."
--Publishers Weekly
"A magnificent, well-documented study of one of the most important campaigns of the Civil War."
--Washington Times
"A must read for those who want to develop a more complete understanding of this essential campaign in Civil War history."
--Southern Historian
"Has the mythos that surrounds Jackson the icon overwhelmed the human foibles and military failures that bedeviled Jackson the man? Cozzens offers a magisterial examination of the Valley Campaign to answer this and many other questions. He brings scrupulous research and a keen analytic eye to Jackson's logistics and tactics. The result is a vigorous account that captures both Union and Confederate perspectives and brings a much needed modern interpretation to one of the war's most storied campaigns."
--Civil War Times
"As campaign literature, this book stands out as a superlative narrative. The sentence structure is succinct, the prose is scintillating, the characters and their environment are vividly portrayed and developed, and the chronology of the campaign is well-placed in chapters bookended by distinct and memorable introductions and conclusions. . . . Stand[s] out as the definitive work on the campaign."
--Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
"A well-written, informative, and entertaining book. . . . An important new work giving the Northern perspective while at the same time taking a critical look at Jackson. . . . Highly recommended."
--TOCWOC A Civil War Blog
Cloth: $35.00
© 2009 The University of North Carolina Press
116 South Boundary Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-3808
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