Shenandoah Valley

Black Thursday at Sayler’s Creek

By David A. Norris

Four hundred Confederate sailors and marines, their small arms loaded and ready, awaited their orders. Some men had their cutlasses within easy reach. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

The Disastrous Red River Campaign

By Michael E. Haskew

Nathaniel Banks was a political creature, and with his country in the throes of civil war, he now held the politically obtained rank of major general in the Union Army. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

Swirling Cavalry Fight at Trevilian Station

By Arnold Blumberg

Despite costing the Union Army 55,000 men in five weeks of hard marching and grueling combat, Lt. Gen. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

Brawl at Brawner’s Farm: Jackson’s Bloody Stalemate at Second Manassas

By John Walker

The ground around Manassas, Virginia, was not auspicious for Union Army forces in the first two years of the Civil War. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

General George S. Patton, Sr.: Civil War Veteran

By James M. Powles

The famed general of World War II, George S. Patton III, often spoke with pride of the military deeds of his forefathers. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

Colonel John Allen and the River Raisin Debacle

By Stuart W. Sanders

It had been eight years since Jane Logan Allen’s husband, Colonel John Allen, had departed with his regiment. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

First Manassas: The Battle of Bull Run

By Earl Echelberry

On March 4, 1861, with war clouds threatening the land, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated the 16th president of the United States. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

The Battle of Waynesboro: Jubal Early’s Last Stand

By Cowan Brew

The unrelentingly harsh winter of 1864-1865 gave no respite to Virginia’s war-torn Shenandoah Valley. Heavy snows and frigid temperatures made travel difficult, and the two opposing armies found themselves literally frozen into place, 90 miles apart and in no particular hurry to get at each other again before the weather broke. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

Stonewall Jackson’s Hard Defeat At The Second Battle of Manassas

By Todd S. Berkoff

As the bright red sun was slowly setting over their shoulders on the balmy evening of August 28, 1862, Union troops marching east along the Warrenton Turnpike knew nothing of what awaited them. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

The Dahlgren Affair: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid on Richmond

By Robert Suhr

On the night of February 28, 1864, an advanced unit of bluecoat troopers captured two guards at the Rapidan River ford, and the remainder in a house near the river. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

The Battle of Cedar Creek Offers Insight into Valley’s Final Months

By William E. Welsh

Out of the mist on the rolling ground of the Shenandoah Valley the bulk of the Confederate Army bore down on the Union left flank on the morning of October 19, 1864. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

Visiting the Battle of Gettysburg National Military Park

by William E. Welsh

Walking along the Union line of battle at Gettysburg, whether on Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill, Culp’s Hill, or elsewhere is at times overwhelming. Read more

Shenandoah Valley

American Civil War Timeline – 1862: Chipping Away at the South

By William E. Welsh

In 1862, Confederate forces in Virginia were enjoying a number of campaign successes, but the decisive advantage in naval power enjoyed by the Union enabled it to advance down the Mississippi, capture river forts, and conduct many coastal attacks. Read more