<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent study on a little understood part of the Civil
Review: As a lover of American History, especially that of the Civil War period, I must say that I have found this a difficult book to put down. Mr. Heatwole has written a facinating story of a time when "total war" came to Virginia - the burning of the Shenandoah Valley.The beauty of this book is how it tells the story of the people of the time. His research has uncovered truly interesting stories, and really gives the reader a feel for what life must have during this terrible period. This book is very readable, and would be of interest to casual students of this period as well as die-hard historians. Of the 300+ Civil War books I have read, this has to rate in the top 10. Congratulations Mr. Heatwole!!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent study on a little understood part of the Civil
Review: As a lover of American History, especially that of the Civil War period, I must say that I have found this a difficult book to put down. Mr. Heatwole has written a facinating story of a time when "total war" came to Virginia - the burning of the Shenandoah Valley. The beauty of this book is how it tells the story of the people of the time. His research has uncovered truly interesting stories, and really gives the reader a feel for what life must have during this terrible period. This book is very readable, and would be of interest to casual students of this period as well as die-hard historians. Of the 300+ Civil War books I have read, this has to rate in the top 10. Congratulations Mr. Heatwole!!
Rating: 
Summary: Survey of destruction...
Review: Healtwole presents a county-by-county account of Sheridan's movements in the Valley. The "witness" to the destruction is the use of "facts", legends, interviews, family letters, etc. A flaw is the generalized sameness of each chapter - "these" troops, led by "this" guy did "that" to "those" peoples barn, house, etc. While there is certainly many interesting anecdotes and sidebars without, the format becomes repetitive. Indeed, if you read three or four chapters, you get the full gist. The abundance of maps helps.
Rating:
Summary: Survey of destruction...
Review: Healtwole presents a county-by-county account of Sheridan's movements in the Valley. The "witness" to the destruction is the use of "facts", legends, interviews, family letters, etc. A flaw is the generalized sameness of each chapter - "these" troops, led by "this" guy did "that" to "those" peoples barn, house, etc. While there is certainly many interesting anecdotes and sidebars without, the format becomes repetitive. Indeed, if you read three or four chapters, you get the full gist. The abundance of maps helps.
Rating: 
Summary: Folk History
Review: Heatwole is described as compiler of Shenandoah Valley folk tales and he uses them to try to describe the destruction of the supplies in the Valley by Sheridan's troops in September and October 1864. He is not interested in primary sources other than what he has learned in the Valley and what has been printed during the past 140 years. He makes no attempt to tell the full history of the Vallry's destruction, but rather to see it through remembered folk tales. He does not evaluate these tales, but includes them as he heard them. Among my favorites is the killing of a Union trooper by a woman who smashes a crock of apple butter on his head (surely a likely happening in the Shenandoah Valley apple-rich region) and then who manages to hide the sticky body in tall grass without the rest of the Union troops noticing, and, best of all, the farmer who shoots a Union lieutenant and dumps his body in the burning barn that the officer just lit. It seems the farmer had to get off his porch, go upstairs, grab his rifle, open the window and shoot the lieutenant, while the officer stood by the flaming barn allowing this to happen. Again, no Union troops were nearby to intervene and presumably the fire was so hot that the lieutenant's body was completely reduced to ashes and nobody in his regiment missed him enough to go looking for him. The two week Burning was actually a lot more violent and deadly to both sides than even Heatwole makes out. Both sides murdered prisoners, but the Burning generally was confined to barns, mills and cribs, not houses. That the people of the Shenandoah Valley suffered is undeniable. So is Lee's surrender six months later. The grandsons of the victims also seem not to have many qualms about dropping fire on Germans and Japanese. The Burning needs a better book than this, one that includes more sources that those from Virginia. Heatwole could have done much better, but, frankly, he has produced a book of only limited usefulness.
<< 1 >>
| 
