Popular 1864 Shenandoah Campaign Books

The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot: The Fort Stevens Story by Benjamin Franklin Cooling III

The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot: The Fort Stevens Story recounts the story of President Abraham Lincoln s role in the Battle of Fort Stevens in July 1864. This engagement stands apart in American history as the only time a sitting American president came under enemy fire while in office. In this new study of this overlooked moment in American history, Cooling poses a troub The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot: The Fort Stevens Story recounts the story of President Abraham Lincoln s role in the Battle of Fort Stevens in July 1864. This engagement stands apart in American history as the only time a sitting American president came under enemy fire while in office. In this new study of this overlooked moment in American history, Cooling poses a troubling question: What if Lincoln had been shot and killed during this short battle, nine months prior to his death by John Wilkes Booth s hand in Ford's Theater? A potential pivotal moment in the Civil War, the Battle of Fort Stevens could have changed with Lincoln's demise the course of American history. The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot, however, is more than a meditation on an alternate history of the United States. It is also a close study of the attempt by Confederate general Jubal Early to capture Washington, D.C., to remove Lincoln and the Union government from power, and to turn the tide of the Civil War in the South's favor. The dramatic events of this attempt to capture Washington and the president with it unfold in stunning detail as Cooling taps fresh documentary sources and offers a new interpretation of this story of the defense of the nation s capital. Commemorating this largely forgotten and under-appreciated chapter in the study of Lincoln and the Civil War, The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot is a fascinating look at this potential turning point in American history.

The Confederacy's Last Northern Offensive: Jubal Early, the Army of the Valley and the Raid on Washington by Steven Bernstein

By spring 1864, the administration of Abraham Lincoln was in serious trouble, with mounting debt, low morale and eroding political support. As spring became summer, a force of Confederate troops led by Lieutenant General Jubal Anderson Early marched north through the Shenandoah Valley and crossed the Potomac as Washington, D.C., and Maryland lay nearly undefended. This Civ By spring 1864, the administration of Abraham Lincoln was in serious trouble, with mounting debt, low morale and eroding political support. As spring became summer, a force of Confederate troops led by Lieutenant General Jubal Anderson Early marched north through the Shenandoah Valley and crossed the Potomac as Washington, D.C., and Maryland lay nearly undefended. This Civil War history explores what could have been a decisive Confederate victory and the reasons Early's invasion of Maryland stalled.

The Battle of New Market by William C. Davis

Reprint of the 1975 Doubleday original. On May 15, 1864, at a little crossroads hamlet in Virginia, the fate of the Shenandoah Valley may have been decided and, with it, the ability of the Confederacy to survive in Virginia for another season. The Battle of New Market is the story of one of those seemingly incredible hair’s-breadth miracles that now and then dot the Civil W Reprint of the 1975 Doubleday original. On May 15, 1864, at a little crossroads hamlet in Virginia, the fate of the Shenandoah Valley may have been decided and, with it, the ability of the Confederacy to survive in Virginia for another season. The Battle of New Market is the story of one of those seemingly incredible hair’s-breadth miracles that now and then dot the Civil War landscape. A scratch force of hastily assembled Confederates, outnumbered up to the last minute, meets and decisively overcomes a superior Yankee army. A former vice president and onetime candidate for the presidency commands the Rebel forces. The Corps of Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute-some of them boys no older than fourteen-march to battle with the veterans, commencing a tradition and a legend that persist to this day. All these and more make up the dramatic story of New Market, and are told here in the most thoroughly researched and clearly presented book ever written on this legendary battle. Courage and heroism, youth and manhood, North and South all meet compellingly in these pages, just as they met in the pelting rain on the battlefield that may have saved Virginia.

Season of Fire: The Confederate Strike on Washington by Joseph Judge

The Confederate Strike on Washington. 300 pp., illus., maps, cloth, dj., new condition.

Battle of New Market: Self-Guided Tour by Joseph W.A. Whitehorne

The battle between Confederate units under General John C. Breckinridge and Union forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley, May 1864.

The Burning: Sheridan's Devastation of the Shenandoah Valley by John L. Heatwole

Gen. U.S. Grant's order to cripple the ability of the Shenandoah Valley to supply the CSA with food and fodder affected the civilian population as did no other act of war, including Sherman's march through Georgia. Packed with the firsthand account of victims and perpetrators alike, this book brings history alive.

Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History by Marc Leepson

The Battle of Monocacy, which took place on the blisteringly hot day of July 9, 1864, is one of the Civil War's most significant yet little-known battles. What played out that day in the corn and wheat fields four miles south of Frederick, Maryland., was a full-field engagement between some 12,000 battle-hardened Confederate troops led by the controversial Jubal Anderson E The Battle of Monocacy, which took place on the blisteringly hot day of July 9, 1864, is one of the Civil War's most significant yet little-known battles. What played out that day in the corn and wheat fields four miles south of Frederick, Maryland., was a full-field engagement between some 12,000 battle-hardened Confederate troops led by the controversial Jubal Anderson Early, and some 5,800 Union troops, many of them untested in battle, under the mercurial Lew Wallace, the future author of Ben-Hur. When the fighting ended, some 1,300 Union troops were dead, wounded or missing or had been taken prisoner, and Early---who suffered some 800 casualties---had routed Wallace in the northernmost Confederate victory of the war. Two days later, on another brutally hot afternoon, Monday, July 11, 1864, the foul-mouthed, hard-drinking Early sat astride his horse outside the gates of Fort Stevens in the upper northwestern fringe of Washington, D.C. He was about to make one of the war's most fateful, portentous decisions: whether or not to order his men to invade the nation's capital.  Early had been on the march since June 13, when Robert E. Lee ordered him to take an entire corps of men from their Richmond-area encampment and wreak havoc on Yankee troops in the Shenandoah Valley, then to move north and invade Maryland. If Early found the conditions right, Lee said, he was to take the war for the first time into President Lincoln's front yard. Also on Lee's agenda: forcing the Yankees to release a good number of troops from the stranglehold that Gen. U.S. Grant had built around Richmond. Once manned by tens of thousands of experienced troops, Washington's ring of forts and fortifications that day were in the hands of a ragtag collection of walking wounded Union soldiers, the Veteran Reserve Corps, along with what were known as hundred days' men---raw recruits who had joined the Union Army to serve as temporary, rear-echelon troops. It was with great shock, then, that the city received news of the impending rebel attack. With near panic filling the streets, Union leaders scrambled to coordinate a force of volunteers. But Early did not pull the trigger. Because his men were exhausted from the fight at Monocacy and the ensuing march, Early paused before attacking the feebly manned Fort Stevens, giving Grant just enough time to bring thousands of veteran troops up from Richmond. The men arrived at the eleventh hour, just as Early was contemplating whether or not to move into Washington. No invasion was launched, but Early did engage Union forces outside Fort Stevens. During the fighting, President Lincoln paid a visit to the fort, becoming the only sitting president in American history to come under fire in a military engagement. Historian Marc Leepson shows that had Early arrived in Washington one day earlier, the ensuing havoc easily could have brought about a different conclusion to the war. Leepson uses a vast amount of primary material, including memoirs, official records, newspaper accounts, diary entries and eyewitness reports in a reader-friendly and engaging description of the events surrounding what became known as "the Battle That Saved Washington."   Praise for Flag: An American Biography "There is no story about the flag that he omits…. [We] now have a comprehensive guide to its unfolding."---The Wall Street Journal   "The fascination of history is in its details, and the author of Flag: An American Biography knows how to find them and turn them into compelling reading. This book brings out the irony, humor, myth, and behind-the-scenes happenings that make our flag's 228-year history so fascinating."---The Saturday Evening Post   "Flag is a valuable addition to American history, and Leepson...certainly is due a portion of authorly glory for this absorbing account of America's national icon."---Richmond Times-Dispatch   "Timely and insightful."---The Dallas Morning News   "To understand the USA and her citizens, it is necessary to understand the origins, the legends, and the meaning of our flag. Marc Leepson's Flag is a grand book, worthy of its grand subject." ---Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys and The Keeper's Son   "Flag is a very significant contribution to our history. And it is a book that everyone who cares about the United States should read."---Veteran Magazine  

Decision at Tom's Brook: George Custer, Tom Rosser, and the Joy of the Fight by William Miller

Shenandoah 1864: Sheridan’s valley campaign by Mark Lardas

Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in 1864 was the scene of one of the most crucial campaigns of the Civil War. The outcome of the fighting there would have consequences that stretched far outside the valley to help decide the fate of the nation. In 1864 the Union Army's new commander, Ulysses Grant, created the Union's first cohesive strategy for conquering the Confederacy. One Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in 1864 was the scene of one of the most crucial campaigns of the Civil War. The outcome of the fighting there would have consequences that stretched far outside the valley to help decide the fate of the nation. In 1864 the Union Army's new commander, Ulysses Grant, created the Union's first cohesive strategy for conquering the Confederacy. One of his key objectives was to control the Shenandoah Valley. The valley shielded the Confederacy, served as the bread basket for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, and provided remounts for Confederate cavalry. When an initial invasion in spring 1864 failed in the face of a skillful counter-attack by General Jubal Early, Grant turned to his cavalry commander, Brigadier-General Philip Sheridan, to drive the Confederacy from the valley. On August 7, 1864, "Little Phil" assumed command of the Army of the Shenandoah, as the new command was styled. Over the next 90 days two armies--the Union forces led by Sheridan and the Confederate troops commanded by Early--maneuvered across the Shenandoah Valley in a storied campaign of move and countermove, where unexpected attacks were met by equally unexpected ripostes. The stakes in the battles were not just the fate of one disputed agricultural valley in the United States. Rather, its implications would be felt throughout a nation torn by Civil War. Victory or defeat in the Shenandoah could affect the outcome of the Presidential election to be held in November 1864. Confederate loss of the Valley would cripple the Army of Northern Virginia. Sheridan's eventual victory helped ensure Lincoln's re-election and removed the Confederate threat, hastening the eventual end to the Civil War.

The Last Battle of Winchester: Phil Sheridan, Jubal Early, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign: August 7 - September 19, 1864 by Scott C. Patchan

The Last Battle of Winchester: Phil Sheridan, Jubal Early, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, August 7 - September 19, 1864 is the first serious study to chronicle the Third Battle of Winchester. The September 1864 combat was the largest, longest, and bloodiest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley. What began about daylight did not end until dusk, when the victorious Un The Last Battle of Winchester: Phil Sheridan, Jubal Early, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, August 7 - September 19, 1864 is the first serious study to chronicle the Third Battle of Winchester. The September 1864 combat was the largest, longest, and bloodiest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley. What began about daylight did not end until dusk, when the victorious Union army routed the Confederates. It was the first time Stonewall Jackson's former corps had ever been driven from a battlefield, and their defeat set the stage for the final climax of the 1864 Valley Campaign.The Northern victory was a long time coming. After a spring and summer of Union defeat in the Valley, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant cobbled together a formidable force under Phil Sheridan, an equally redoubtable commander. Sheridan's task was a tall one: sweep Jubal Early's Confederate army out of the bountiful Shenandoah, and reduce the verdant region of its supplies. The aggressive Early had led the veterans of Jackson's Army of the Valley District to one victory after another at Lynchburg, Monocacy, Snickers Gap, and Kernstown. Five weeks of complex maneuvering and sporadic combat followed before the opposing armies ended up at Winchester, an important town in the northern end of the Valley that had changed hands dozens of times over the previous three years. Tactical brilliance and ineptitude were on display throughout the day-long affair as Sheridan threw infantry and cavalry against the thinning Confederate ranks and Early and his generals shifted to meet each assault. A final blow against Early's left flank finally collapsed the Southern army, killed one of the Confederacy's finest combat generals, and planted the seeds of the victory at Cedar Creek the following month. Scott Patchan's vivid prose, which is based upon more than two decades of meticulous research and an unparalleled understanding of the battlefield, is complimented with numerous original maps and explanatory footnotes that enhance our understanding of this watershed battle. Rich in analysis and character development, The Last Battle of Winchester is certain to become a classic Civil War battle study. About the Author: A life-long student of military history, Scott C. Patchan is a graduate of James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley. He is the author of many articles and books, including The Forgotten Fury: The Battle of Piedmont (1996), Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign (2007), and Second Manassas: Longstreet's Attack and the Struggle for Chinn Ridge (2011). Patchan serves as a Director on the board of the Kernstown Battlefield Association in Winchester, Virginia, and is a member of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation's Resource Protection Committee.

Valley Thunder by Charles R. Knight

Charles R. Knight's Valley Thunder is the first full-length account in more than three decades to examine the combat at New Market on May 15, 1864, the battle that opened the pivotal Shenandoah Valley Campaign, a strategically important and agriculturally abundant region that helped feed Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Jubal's Raid: General Early's Famous Attack on Washington in 1864 by Frank E. Vandiver

During the summer of 1864 General Grant was hammering at the gates of Richmond and the Confederacy seemed doomed. In a bold and desperate stroke, General Lee countered by sending Jubal A. Early and a force of only twelve thousand men toward Washington, D.C. After some victories along the way, they crossed the Potomac and caused plenty of confusion and consternation in the During the summer of 1864 General Grant was hammering at the gates of Richmond and the Confederacy seemed doomed. In a bold and desperate stroke, General Lee countered by sending Jubal A. Early and a force of only twelve thousand men toward Washington, D.C. After some victories along the way, they crossed the Potomac and caused plenty of confusion and consternation in the capital before retreating. Early reportedly said: "We haven't taken Washington, but we've scared Abe Lincoln like hell!" In fact, Lincoln kept cool, but a lot of others on the Union side did not. The story of that daring diversion, its losses and gains, is memorably told in Jubal's Raid.

The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 by Gary W. Gallagher (Editor)

Generally regarded as the most important of the Civil War campaigns conducted in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, that of 1864 lasted more than four months and claimed more than 25,000 casualties. The armies of Philip H. Sheridan and Jubal A. Early contended for immense stakes. Beyond the agricultural bounty and the boost in morale a victory would bring, events in the Va Generally regarded as the most important of the Civil War campaigns conducted in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, that of 1864 lasted more than four months and claimed more than 25,000 casualties. The armies of Philip H. Sheridan and Jubal A. Early contended for immense stakes. Beyond the agricultural bounty and the boost in morale a victory would bring, events in the Valley also would affect Abraham Lincoln's chances for reelection in the November 1864 presidential canvass. The eleven original essays in this volume reexamine common assumptions about the campaign, its major figures, and its significance. Taking advantage of the most recent scholarship and a wide range of primary sources, contributors examine strategy and tactics, the performances of key commanders on each side, the campaign's political repercussions, and the experiences of civilians caught in the path of the armies. The authors do not always agree with one another, yet, taken together, their essays highlight important connections between the home front and the battlefield, as well as ways in which military affairs, civilian experiences, and politics played off one another during the campaign. Contributors: William W. Bergen, Charlottesville, Virginia Keith S. Bohannon, State University of West Georgia Andre M. Fleche, University of Virginia Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia Joseph T. Glatthaar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Robert E. L. Krick, Richmond, Virginia Robert K. Krick, Fredericksburg, Virginia William J. Miller, Churchville, Virginia Aaron Sheehan-Dean, University of North Florida William G. Thomas, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Joan Waugh, University of California, Los Angeles Generally regarded as the most important Civil War military operation conducted in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the campaign of 1864 lasted more than four months and claimed more than 25,000 casualties. Beyond the loss of agricultural bounty to the Confederacy and the boost in Union morale a victory would bring, events in the Valley also would affect Abraham Lincoln's chances for reelection in the November 1864 presidential canvass. The eleven original essays in this volume reexamine common assumptions about the campaign, its major figures, and its significance. Taking advantage of the most recent scholarship and a wide range of primary sources, contributors consider strategy and tactics, the performances of key commanders on each side, the campaign's political repercussions, and the experiences of civilians caught in the path of the armies. The contributors are William W. Bergen, Keith S. Bohannon, Andre M. Fleche, Gary W. Gallagher, Joseph T. Glatthaar, Robert E. L. Krick, Robert K. Krick, William J. Miller, Aaron Sheehan-Dean, William G. Thomas, and Joan Waugh. The editor is Gary W. Gallagher.