Book description
Although nine of the former British colonies joined the United States
before Virginia, the fate of the new republic depended heavily on the
Commonwealth. With four of the first five American presidents, and many
other founding fathers and framers of the Constitution, calling Virginia
their home, the roots of American democracy are firmly planted within
the borders of the Old Dominion. Similarly, several Southern states
preceded Virginia in seceding from the Union, but until Virginia joined
them in April 1861, the Confederacy lacked cohesion. Richmond was
immediately named the capital of the fledgling nation, and by the end of
spring, Virginia had become the primary political and military theater
in which the grand tragedy of the Civil War was enacted. Virginia at
War, 1861, edited by acclaimed historians William C. Davis and James I.
Robertson Jr., vividly portrays the process of secession, the early
phases of conflict, and the struggles of Virginians to weather the
brutal storms of war. Virginia at War, 1861 is the first in a series of
volumes on each of Virginia's five years as a Confederate state. Essays
by eight noted Civil War scholars provide a three-dimensional view of
Virginians' experiences during the first year of the War Between the
States. In addition to recounting the remarkable military events taking
place in Virginia in 1861, this collection examines a civilian
population braced for war but divided on crucial questions, an economy
pressed to cope with the demands of combat, and a culture that strained
to reconcile its proud heritage with its uncertain future. In 1861, the
outcome of the Civil War was far from determined, but for Virginians
there was little doubt that the war experience would alter nearly
everything they had known before the outbreak of hostilities. In
exacting detail, Virginia at War, 1861 examines the earliest challenges
of the Civil War, the changes war wrought, and the ways in which
Virginians withstood and adapted to this profound, irrevocable upheaval.
