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Modern War Studies
From the Mountains to the Bay: The War in Virginia, January-May 1862
From January to July of 1862, the armies and navies of the Union and Confederacy conducted an incredibly complex and remarkably diverse range of operations in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Under the direction of leaders like Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, George McClellan, Joseph E. Johnston, John Rodgers, Robert E. Lee, Franklin Buchanan, Irvin McDowell, and Louis M. Goldsborough, men of the Union and Confederate armed forces marched over mountains and through shallow valleys, maneuvered on and along great tidal rivers, bridged and waded their tributaries, battled malarial swamps, dug trenches and constructed fortifications, and advanced and retreated in search of operational and tactical advantage.
In the course of these operations, the North demonstrated it had learned quite a bit from its setbacks of 1861 and was able to achieve significant operational and tactical success on both land and sea. This enabled Union arms to bring a considerable portion of Virginia under Federal control--in some cases temporarily and in others permanently. Indeed, at points during the spring and early summer of 1862, it appeared the North just might succeed in bringing about the defeat of the rebellion before the year was out.
A sweeping study of the operations on land and sea, From the Mountains to the Bay is the only modern scholarly work that looks at the operations that took place in Virginia in early 1862, from the Romney Campaign that opened the year to the naval engagement between the Monitor and Merrimac to the movements and engagements fought by Union and Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley, on the York-James Peninsula, and in northern Virginia, as a single, comprehensive campaign.
Rafuse draws from extensive research in primary sources to provide a fast-paced, complete account of operations throughout Virginia, while also incorporating findings of recent scholarship on the factors that shaped these campaigns. The work provides invaluable insights into the factors and individuals who shaped these operations, how they influenced the course of the war, the relationships between political leaders and men in uniform, and how all these factors affected the development and execution of strategy, operations, and tactics.
In the course of these operations, the North demonstrated it had learned quite a bit from its setbacks of 1861 and was able to achieve significant operational and tactical success on both land and sea. This enabled Union arms to bring a considerable portion of Virginia under Federal control--in some cases temporarily and in others permanently. Indeed, at points during the spring and early summer of 1862, it appeared the North just might succeed in bringing about the defeat of the rebellion before the year was out.
A sweeping study of the operations on land and sea, From the Mountains to the Bay is the only modern scholarly work that looks at the operations that took place in Virginia in early 1862, from the Romney Campaign that opened the year to the naval engagement between the Monitor and Merrimac to the movements and engagements fought by Union and Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley, on the York-James Peninsula, and in northern Virginia, as a single, comprehensive campaign.
Rafuse draws from extensive research in primary sources to provide a fast-paced, complete account of operations throughout Virginia, while also incorporating findings of recent scholarship on the factors that shaped these campaigns. The work provides invaluable insights into the factors and individuals who shaped these operations, how they influenced the course of the war, the relationships between political leaders and men in uniform, and how all these factors affected the development and execution of strategy, operations, and tactics.
426 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 2022
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January 15, 2023
Great coverage of the war in Virginia from Jan-May 1862. Most will be familiar with the opening moves of the Peninsula and Valley Campaigns, but Rafuse ties in the other movements in the state, such as the details of the movements of both sides along the Rappahannock. Having read his "McClellan's War", I expected Rafuse to be more sympathetic to McClellan, but he is pretty tough on his actions, even blaming the retention of McDowell's Corps by Lincoln on McClellan's lack of communication with Washington. Rafuse does an excellent job of summarizing the actions and providing some detail while keeping it from being suffused with minutiae.
One star removed for poor editing. Rafuse writes too many extended sentences with so many commas that you almost have to diagram them to keep track of the subject and object. And far too many syntactical errors and typos for a University Press. If Kansas is going to charge this much for a new book, they should at least invest in professional editing.
One star removed for poor editing. Rafuse writes too many extended sentences with so many commas that you almost have to diagram them to keep track of the subject and object. And far too many syntactical errors and typos for a University Press. If Kansas is going to charge this much for a new book, they should at least invest in professional editing.
Displaying 1 of 1 review