Civil War Virginia

Civil War Virginia
Author: James I. Robertson
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 204
Release: 1993-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780813914572

This guide includes the 26 major battlefields in Virginia as well as some of the smaller skirmishes.

Seceding from Secession

Seceding from Secession
Author: Eric J. Wittenberg
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2020-06-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1611215072

A “thoroughly researched [and] historically enlightening” account of how the Commonwealth of Virginia split in two in the midst of war (Civil War News). “West Virginia was the child of the storm.” —Mountaineer historian and Civil War veteran Maj. Theodore F. Lang As the Civil War raged, the northwestern third of the Commonwealth of Virginia finally broke away in 1863 to form the Union’s 35th state. Seceding from Secession chronicles those events in an unprecedented study of the social, legal, military, and political factors that converged to bring about the birth of West Virginia. President Abraham Lincoln, an astute lawyer in his own right, played a critical role in birthing the new state. The constitutionality of the mechanism by which the new state would be created concerned the president, and he polled every member of his cabinet before signing the bill. Seceding from Secession includes a detailed discussion of the 1871 U.S. Supreme Court decision Virginia v. West Virginia, in which former Lincoln cabinet member Salmon Chase presided as chief justice over the court that decided the constitutionality of the momentous event. Grounded in a wide variety of sources and including a foreword by Frank J. Williams, former Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and Chairman Emeritus of the Lincoln Forum, this book is indispensable for anyone interested in American history.

Civil War Sites in Virginia

Civil War Sites in Virginia
Author: James I. Robertson
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Total Pages: 88
Release: 2011-03-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813931304

Since 1982, the renowned Civil War historian James I. "Bud" Robertson’s Civil War Sites in Virginia: A Tour Guide has enlightened and informed Civil War enthusiasts and scholars alike. The book expertly explores the commonwealth’s Civil War sites for those hoping to gain greater insight and understanding of the conflict. But in the years since the book’s original publication, accessibility to many sites and the interpretive material available have improved dramatically. In addition, new historical markers have been erected, and new historically significant sites have been developed, while other sites have been lost to modern development or other encroachments. The historian Brian Steel Wills offers here a revised and updated edition that retains the core of the original guide, with its rich and insightful prose, but that takes these major changes into account, introducing especially the benefits of expanded interpretation and of improved accessibility. The guide incorporates new information on the lives of a broad spectrum of soldiers and citizens while revisiting scenes associated with the era’s most famous personalities. New maps and a list of specialized tour suggestions assist in planning visits to sites, while three dozen illustrations, from nineteenth-century drawings to modern photographs, bring the war and its impact on the Old Dominion vividly to life. With the sesquicentennial remembrances of the American Civil War heightening interest and spurring improvements, there may be no better time to learn about and visit these important and moving sites than now.

Why Confederates Fought

Why Confederates Fought
Author: Aaron Sheehan-Dean
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2009-11-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 080788765X

In the first comprehensive study of the experience of Virginia soldiers and their families in the Civil War, Aaron Sheehan-Dean captures the inner world of the rank-and-file. Utilizing new statistical evidence and first-person narratives, Sheehan-Dean explores how Virginia soldiers--even those who were nonslaveholders--adapted their vision of the war's purpose to remain committed Confederates. Sheehan-Dean challenges earlier arguments that middle- and lower-class southerners gradually withdrew their support for the Confederacy because their class interests were not being met. Instead he argues that Virginia soldiers continued to be motivated by the profound emotional connection between military service and the protection of home and family, even as the war dragged on. The experience of fighting, explains Sheehan-Dean, redefined southern manhood and family relations, established the basis for postwar race and class relations, and transformed the shape of Virginia itself. He concludes that Virginians' experience of the Civil War offers important lessons about the reasons we fight wars and the ways that those reasons can change over time.

Civil War Talks

Civil War Talks
Author: GEORGE S. BERNARD
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-06-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780813952253

George S. Bernard was a Petersburg lawyer and member of the 12th Virginia Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. Over the course of his life, Bernard wrote extensively about his wartime experiences and collected accounts from other veterans. In 1892, he published War Talks of Confederate Veterans, a collection of firsthand accounts focusing on the battles and campaigns of the 12th Virginia that is widely read to this day. Bernard prepared a second volume but was never able to publish it. After his death in 1912, his papers became scattered or simply lost. But a series of finds, culminating with the discovery of a cache of papers in Roanoke in 2004, have made it possible to reconstruct a complete manuscript of the unpublished second volume. The resulting book, Civil War Talks, contains speeches, letters, Bernard's wartime diary, and other firsthand accounts of the war not only by veterans of the Confederacy, such as General William Mahone, but by Union veterans as well. Their personal stories cover the major military campaigns in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Petersburg, and Appomattox. For the general reader, this volume offers evocative testimonies focusing on the experiences of individual soldiers. For scholars, it provides convenient access to many accounts that, until now, have not been widely available or have been simply unknown.

The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide

The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide
Author: John S. Salmon
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Total Pages: 532
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780811728683

142 two-color maps vividly depict battlefield action Detailed local driving directions guide visitors to each battlefield site Of the 384 Civil War battlefields cited as critical to preserve by the congressionally appointed Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, 123-fully one-third-are located in Virginia. The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide is the comprehensive guidebook to the most significant battles of the Civil War. Reviewed by Edwin C. Bearss and other noted Civil War authorities and sanctioned by the National Park Service and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, no other guidebook on the market today rivals it for historical detail, accuracy, and credibility.

Civil War Sites in Virginia

Civil War Sites in Virginia
Author: James I. Robertson
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Total Pages: 88
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813931118

Since 1982, the renowned Civil War historian James I. "Bud" Robertson's Civil War Sites in Virginia: A Tour Guide has enlightened and informed Civil War enthusiasts and scholars alike. The book expertly explores the commonwealth's Civil War sites for those hoping to gain greater insight and understanding of the conflict. But in the years since the book's original publication, accessibility to many sites and the interpretive material available have improved dramatically. In addition, new historical markers have been erected, and new historically significant sites have been developed, while other sites have been lost to modern development or other encroachments. The historian Brian Steel Wills offers here a revised and updated edition that retains the core of the original guide, with its rich and insightful prose, but that takes these major changes into account, introducing especially the benefits of expanded interpretation and of improved accessibility. The guide incorporates new information on the lives of a broad spectrum of soldiers and citizens while revisiting scenes associated with the era's most famous personalities. New maps and a list of specialized tour suggestions assist in planning visits to sites, while three dozen illustrations, from nineteenth-century drawings to modern photographs, bring the war and its impact on the Old Dominion vividly to life. With the sesquicentennial remembrances of the American Civil War heightening interest and spurring improvements, there may be no better time to learn about and visit these important and moving sites than now.

Virginia at War, 1864

Virginia at War, 1864
Author: William C. Davis
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2009-09-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813139309

The fourth collection of essays in this Civil War series “serves to remind us that there is much for us to discover beyond Virginia’s battlefields” (H-Net Reviews). The fourth book in the Virginia at War series casts a special light on vital home front matters in Virginia during 1864. Following a year in which only one major battle was fought on Virginia soil, 1864 brought military campaigning to the Old Dominion. For the first time during the Civil War, the majority of Virginia’s forces fought inside the state’s borders. Yet soldiers were a distinct minority among the Virginians affected by the war. In Virginia at War, 1864, scholars explore various aspects of the civilian experience in Virginia including transportation and communication, wartime literature, politics and the press, higher education, patriotic celebrations, and early efforts at reconstruction in Union-occupied Virginia. The volume focuses on the effects of war on the civilian infrastructure as well as efforts to maintain the Confederacy. As in previous volumes, Virginia at War, 1864 concludes with an annotated excerpt from the Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War by Richmond’s Judith Brockenbrough McGuire. “The most fully rounded account of Virginia’s wartime experience.” —Charles P. Roland, author of Reflections on Lee: A Historian’s Assessment “This book covers some interesting areas of lesser-known history of Virginia during the Civil War.” —The Oklahoman

Civil War Road Trip, Volume II: A Guide to Virginia & Maryland, 1863-1865 (Vol. 2)

Civil War Road Trip, Volume II: A Guide to Virginia & Maryland, 1863-1865 (Vol. 2)
Author: Michael Weeks
Publisher: The Countryman Press
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2012-05-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0881509841

In this second volume of Michael Weeks’ thoroughly researched guide to the battlefields of the Civil War, you will find complete tours of every major military campaign in the region from 1863 to 1865. In this second volume of Michael Weeks' thoroughly researched guide to the battlefields of the Civil War, you will find complete tours of every major military campaign in the region from 1863 to 1865, from the battles immediately following the great clash at Gettysburg to the fall of Richmond and the Appomattox campaign. Detailed directions and maps, along with a detailed history of each campaign, will guide you to and through some of the war's most critical battlegrounds, including The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Lynchburg and the battle for Richmond. A section devoted to commands and commanders tells the life stories of the famous and the little-known; an explanation of military structure, orders of battle, and the various military units helps you keep track of the course of events and the key players. Travel tips and further sources of information are also included to help your explorations run smoothly.