The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 (review)

General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's 1862 campaign in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia electrified the world and brought renewed spirit to a sagging Confederacy. That was so, the University of Virginia's Gary Gallagher admits, but "the longest, largest and most important military campaign" (p. ix) waged in the Valley came two years later.

In the first stage (June-July) of the 1864 contest, irascible Confederate Gen. Jubal Early manhandled the inept Union commander, David Hunter. The second stage (August-October) saw a stronger, more determined Gen. Philip Sheridan rout Early's army as well as destroy the productivity of the Valley itself.

This new look at the 1864 campaign consists of eleven essays by different writers who in the main approach the fighting from different viewpoints.

Gallagher uses his essay to fault Early on several counts, but contends that Early's overall performance with what little he had entitles him to rank just below Jackson as a corps commander. At the same time, Gallagher is convinced that what Sheridan accomplished in the Valley elevated him to exalted status alongside U. S. Grant and William T. Sherman. An essay by Joseph Glatthaar reveals the myriad of military and bureaucratic problems faced by new Union General-in-Chief Grant while events in the Valley ran their course.

Robert E. L. Krick provides a thorough discussion of the Confederate stampede at Fisher's Hill, while William Miller has produced a highly revealing narrative of the battle of Tom's Creek and attendant demise of Confederate cavalry in the Shenandoah. For Cedar Creek, the climactic engagement in the 1864 campaign, Keith Bohannon and William Bergen offer insights into subordinate commanders on opposite sides. One of the promising officers who died in that campaign was the "New England Cavalier," James Russell Lowell. Ann Waugh recounts Lowell's brief career and untimely death.

Three essays veer from pure military history. The most fascinating is Andre Fleche's discussion of Northern reaction to the 1864 campaign. Many politicians and newspapers railed at Abraham Lincoln for allowing Union soldiers to levy unprovoked destruction against a helpless civilian population. In a related article, William Thomas probes into how Valley residents coped with the tides of military fortune sweeping back and forth across the land. Breaking with traditional interpretation, Aaron Sheehan-Davis argues that Confederate soldiers did not think the situation hopeless in and after the campaign but continued to fight with a courageous dedication.

Quality of presentation naturally varies among the eleven essays. Yet each covers its subject authoritatively, as lengthy endnotes attest. A name-index provides a usable sum for all of the parts. While this volume does not pose as a full history of 1864 events west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it will be a necessary work for any future study of the campaign for final control of "The Breadbasket of the Confederacy."