Shenandoah 1862

Stonewall Jacksonโ€™s Valley Campaign

By Peter Cozzens

640 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 13 halftones, 13 maps, appends., notes, bibl., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-0682-8
    Published: February 2013
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-9847-5
    Published: November 2009
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-6808-4
    Published: November 2009

Civil War America

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Awards & distinctions

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title

One of the most intriguing and storied episodes of the Civil War, the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign has heretofore been related only from the Confederate point of view. Moving seamlessly between tactical details and analysis of strategic significance, Peter Cozzens presents a balanced, comprehensive account of a campaign that has long been romanticized but little understood. He offers new interpretations of the campaign and the reasons for Stonewall Jackson's success, demonstrates instances in which the mythology that has come to shroud the campaign has masked errors on Jackson's part, and provides the first detailed appraisal of Union leadership in the Valley Campaign, with some surprising conclusions.

About the Author

Peter Cozzens is an independent scholar and Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Department of State. He is author or editor of nine highly acclaimed Civil War books, including The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth.
For more information about Peter Cozzens, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"Cozzens is . . . a master of Civil War military history at tactical and operational levels. He deploys a large body of unfamiliar primary material in this detailed analysis of a campaign less one-sided than the accepted view that it represented Union blundering and the triumph of Confederate planning and execution, signaling the emergence of one of history's great generals, Stonewall Jackson."โ€”Publishers Weekly

"A magnificent, well-documented study of one of the most important campaigns of the Civil War."โ€”Washington Times

"The definitive history of the Valley Campaign."โ€”Army Magazine

"A compelling chronological and bilateral narrative of the entire campaign from March to June 1862. Using primary source materials from both sides, Cozzens offers new interpretations of the campaign and of Stonewall Jackson's legendary success, which was not nearly as brilliant as it appeared but was as much the result of Union failure as the triumph of Southern arms. . . . Jackson's errors are covered here, as are those of a succession of Union commanders, all really learning their trade in these early stages of the war. Sure to become the standard work on the campaign, this book is strongly recommended."โ€”Library Journal

"A welcome, much-needed addition to Civil War campaign studies; valuable to scholars and enthusiasts alike. Highly recommended. "โ€”Choice

"Utilizing his extensive collection of sources, the author paints for the reader an excellent description of the region in which the campaign took place. . . . Cozzen's book, both in its research and scope, will certainly surpass Robert G. Tanner's impressive Stonewall in the Valley as the standard work on the 1862 Valley Campaign."โ€”The Historian