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.