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6 H the cost of independence january–june 1864 There is no way to whip them but kill them all. —John Herbert Clairborne, May 14, 1864 I n 1864 a renewed battle for control of Virginia occurred. The Union army, after following Lee’s army back into northern Virginia in mid-1863, camped on the north bank of the Rapidan River. The battles of 1864 all took place south of this point, subjecting Virginia citizens again to the destructive presence of both armies and battles. The Army of the Potomac subsequently pushed Lee’s Confederates back to the defensive confines of Petersburg, twenty miles south of Richmond. This action, dubbed the ‘‘Overland’’ campaign, generated the highest number of casualties and the greatest attention from observers of any episode in the war. Often overshadowed by the bloody fighting in eastern Virginia, the 1864 campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley captured in microcosm the experiences of Virginia civilians and soldiers as the war reached its climax. Invasion, occupation, redemption, and loss characterized the unpredictable and harrowing year in the Valley. The Union campaigns, which targeted civilians and their resources all across the state and blurred the distinction between battlefront and home front, reinforced Virginians’ sense that defense of family and defense of country were the same. Arguing for Confederate optimism in 1864, in the face of rising prices, increasing scarcity of vital goods, and the continued pressure of several Union armies, seems counterintuitive. We know today that the war’s end lay only a year away; surely, Virginians must have seen that as well? Few Confederates possessed such foresight, for reasons both rational and irrational. The high tide of Confederate nationalism and hope that crested in mid-summer 1864 drew on a realistic assessment of Confederates’ martial capabilities and on a blind belief in the righteousness of their cause. Southerners drew con- fidence from the military victories won by Confederate armies and from the real interests that spurred the fight for independence. The battles of 1863 showed that Confederates could ably defend their own land, and most people expected a repeat of the events at Chancellorsville if the Union invaded again. The Confederate will to fight was also bolstered by a romantic nationalism, 142 H war without end an increasing commitment to preserving slavery, and a clearer evocation of the sanctity and importance of family. The Confederate experience demonstrates the ability of people to willfully ignore unpleasant facts in times of crisis. After years of assurances that God favored the South, most Confederates simply could not imagine defeat. What remained clear, in the welter of motivations and inspirations, was that Confederates wanted victory over the Union and so kept fighting. V irginians of all classes expressed confidence in Confederate victory in the early months of the year.∞ After working in the quartermaster and commissary departments for two years, George Quintis Peyton enlisted in the 13th Virginia Infantry on February 9, 1864. Peyton served the Confederacy until he was captured at the battle of Cedar Creek in late 1864 and sent to the Union prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland.≤ Peyton did not leave a record of why he decided to transfer from a protected supporting role to an exposed front-line one but his decision clearly demonstrated support for the Confederate cause. Other Virginians joined him, some publicly and others privately, in avowing support for their nation at the start of 1864. ‘‘You are a most sensible woman in agreeing to adopt my opinion of the Tax Bills,’’ Colonel Edward T. Warren wrote to his wife in February, ‘‘I consider the tax enormously high but not one cent more than is absolutely necessary,’’ he noted. ‘‘Then the tax is levied on all alike. . . . The tax on bonds operates very hard on some people. For instance, on Mother and Grandma, but if such bonds were not taxed the richest men in the country would escape taxation—I am satisfied that the Bill is a good one because so universal in its application.’’≥ George Washington Miley, serving under Warren in the 10th Virginia Infantry, gave his impressions of the unit’s confidence in a letter to his future wife in late March. Although Miley desperately wanted to transfer to a cavalry regiment, he had reenlisted in October 1863. Many of his comrades seem to have done likewise. ‘‘The regiment was [re]formed a few days ago, and, after a brief address by Col. Warren, they were invited to rally...

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