Book description
As the Civil War entered its first full calendar year for the Old
Dominion, Virginians began to experience the full ramifications of the
conflict. Their expectations for the coming year did not prepare them
for what was about to happen; in 1862 the war became earnest and real,
and the state became then and thereafter the major battleground of the
war in the East. Virginia emerged from the year 1861 in much the same
state of uncertainty and confusion as the rest of the Confederacy.
While the North was known to be rebuilding its army, no one could be
sure if the northern people and government were willing to continue
the war. The landscape and the people of Virginia were a part of the
battlefield. Virginia at War, 1862 demonstrates how no aspect of life
in the Commonwealth escaped the war's impact. The collection of essays
examines topics as diverse as daily civilian life and the effects of
military occupation, the massive influx of tens of thousands of
wounded and sick into Richmond, and the wartime expansion of
Virginia's industrial base, the largest in the Confederacy. Out on the
field, Robert E. Lee's army was devastated by the Battle of Antietam,
and Lee strove to rebuild the army with recruits from the interior of
the state. Many Virginians, however, were far behind the front lines.
A growing illustrated press brought the war into the homes of
civilians and allowed them to see what was happening in their state
and in the larger war beyond their borders. To round out this volume,
indefatigable Richmond diarist Judith McGuire continues her day-by-day
reflections on life during wartime. The second in a five-volume series
examining each year of the war, Virginia at War, 1862 illuminates the
happenings on both homefront and battlefield in the state that served
as the crucible of America's greatest internal conflict.
""For those seeking a broader portrait of the conflict
in the Confederacy's most vital state in a year of bloody fighting,
mounting scarcities, and dying hopes, [Virginia At War] has much to
offer." -- Blue and Gray Magazine" --
William C. Davis is director of programs at the Virginia Center
for Civil War Studies. He is the author or editor of more than fifty
books, including The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the
Corsairs of the Gulf. He was also the chief consultant for The History
Channel's Civil War Journal and is professor of history at Virginia
Tech. James I. Robertson Jr. is Alumni Distinguished Professor of
History at Virginia Tech. He is the author or editor of more than two
dozen books, including the award-winning Stonewall Jackson: The Man,
the Soldier, the Legend. He was the chief historical consultant for
the movie Gods and Generals.
