In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

84CIVIL WAR HISTORY author intrudes only to introduce each writer and to explain the circumstances prevalent at the time each passage was written. Having thus placed an excerpt in proper historical perspective, Miss Jones graciously leaves the stage and allows the eyewitness to relate her own experiences. This is not to imply that only one reaction exists for each segment of Sherman's campaign; quite to the contrary. For example, seven women describe the Federal march from Atlanta to Milledgeville; eight tell of the occupation of Savannah; nineteen recount aspects of the still-inflammatory destruction of Columbia; and eleven express their feelings during the final fighting in North Carolina. Some of the women (e.g., Dolly Bürge, Cornelia Spencer, and Margaret Devereaux) are familiar figures to Civil War students. Others (such as Kate McKimmon, Lily Logan, and Julia Gott) are new voices of an oppressed generation. Although Miss Jones undertook this volume as a labor of love, she used no short cuts. The multiplicity of excerpts, voluminous notes, and full bibliography attest to her painstaking research. Her strong prosouthem bent may irritate a few readers, but any injured feelings will be inconsequential when compared to those of southern women who witnessed and endured the "Great March." James I. Robertson, Jr. University of Montana Conquest of a Valley. By Marshall M. Brice. (Charlottesville, Va.: The University Press of Virginia, 1965. Pp. vii, 184. $4.50. ) Most battles of the Civil War have received adequate treatment by historians , but a few still remain in relative obscurity. Professor Marshall M. Brice feeb that the Union victory at Piedmont, Virginia, on June 5, 1864, has been somewhat neglected, and its significance overlooked by historians . A number of factors have been responsible for this. Larger military operations in other areas have overshadowed it, and unlike the battle of New Market, Piedmont has been regarded as part of a military trend. The quick reversal of Hunter's Lynchburg campaign also seemed to nullify its effects. In addition to these reasons, Professor Brice advances two new ones: the battle was mainly fought by Confederate reserves; and the subsequent rapidity of military movements allowed little time to record its detaib. In defense of Piedmont's importance, Brice argues that all previous attempts to capture the upper Shenandoah Valley and Staunton, a vital center for supplying Lee's army, had failed. With the victory the city now fell into Union hands, and the army under General Hunter moved eastward against Lynchburg Sigel's earlier attempts, in May, to capture Staunton had ended in defeat at New Market, but unlike previous years, Grant refused to allow the Valley to have a brief respite. General Hunter was ordered to take the offensive, to prevent the Confederacy from making use of the approaching harvest, and then to move eastward. In the meantime, Confeder- BOOK REVIEWS85 ate authorities, feeling that the Valley was secure, left its defense mainly to reserves and a small token force under Imboden. To meet this new threat of invasion, General W. E. Jones, commander of the Department of Southwestern Virginia, met the Union force at Piedmont. Fearing a juncture of General Crook's forces and Hunter's army, Lee ordered Jones to stop Hunter before Crook could reach Staunton. A heavy skirmishing drove back advanced Confederate units. Jones, despite the protests of Imboden, fortified the heights at Piedmont instead of Mowry's Hill. In the ensuing batde a serious gap quickly developed in the southern ranks between the infantry and the cavalry on the right. Jones's attempt to rectify the flaw ended in his death. Meanwhile, the cavalry and mounted infantry under Imboden and Vaughn merely watched, while southern lines disintegrated. The breakdown in coordination and the failure of the cavalry to protect the exposed right flank of the infantry cost die Confederacy the batde and 1,500 casualties, and the upper Shenandoah Valley was prostrate before a Federal army for the first time. Professor Brice, a retired colonel of infantry, is presendy a professor of English at Mary Baldwin College. His military background serves him well in describing the troop movements surrounding the batde of Piedmont . He has synthesized a mass of regimental and personal...

pdf

Share