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Rating: 
Summary: Dense History
Review: This is an incredibly dense historical account of Confederate guerrilla warfare in the areas of northern and western Virginia. The author obviously did his homework with hundreds of quotes and references. The book was so detailed as to occasionally lose the reader. A map certainly would have helped. I got the feeling that every single guerrilla attack was accounted for in this book.On the strong side were some amusing and touching accounts of individuals and incidents. On the weak side was the page after page of oh-so-so similar accounts of attacks. The book also centered on the Virginia area guerrillas with hardly a mention of those in Missouri and Kansas. The author's theory, that the Civil War - or at least Lee's surrender - was delayed by at least months by the work of the guerrillas is well-substantiated in the book. However, I think the author would have been better served to apend more time on the larger picture and overview and less time on every derailment on the B&O Railroad. Worth reading for a serious Civil War buff. A bit too much for the casual reader of Civil War material.
Rating:
Summary: Dense History
Review: This is an incredibly dense historical account of Confederate guerrilla warfare in the areas of northern and western Virginia. The author obviously did his homework with hundreds of quotes and references. The book was so detailed as to occasionally lose the reader. A map certainly would have helped. I got the feeling that every single guerrilla attack was accounted for in this book. On the strong side were some amusing and touching accounts of individuals and incidents. On the weak side was the page after page of oh-so-so similar accounts of attacks. The book also centered on the Virginia area guerrillas with hardly a mention of those in Missouri and Kansas. The author's theory, that the Civil War - or at least Lee's surrender - was delayed by at least months by the work of the guerrillas is well-substantiated in the book. However, I think the author would have been better served to apend more time on the larger picture and overview and less time on every derailment on the B&O Railroad. Worth reading for a serious Civil War buff. A bit too much for the casual reader of Civil War material.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Darn Good!
Review: This is as good an account of Confederate guerilla activities in the Eastern Theater of operations as I have run across. For me, this book helped me understand 3 things:
1)The war was intensely continuous. It never stopped. Most historians focus on the major battles being as they were the key tests of strength between North and South. But the war was not made up of 15 or 20 segmented, key events. It was not a sometimes thing. It was brutally constant. These people were angry with each other, killing angry, and went out of their way to make their point as often as possibly.
2)The North's battle plan was exceedingly difficult to execute. Virginia's topography was not suited to a clean advance. Holding territory taken was difficult. Supply lines had to be thin, extended and vulnerable. The land itself had to be worth many divisions to Southern forces. And they took maximum advantage of the terrain.
3)The South fought a campaign of terror and was damn good at it. Both sides fought to win. Both sides fought to intimidate. The South was exceptional at this through the summer of 1864 but then the tide changed and when it did it was a tidal wave of unimagined proportions.
It is amazing how small some of these bands were that descended from the mountains to attack their enemy and then disappear. They snatched couriers to learn of Union movements and plans, destroyed bridges and railroad service, attacked sleeping camps and captured supply trains and prisoners by the thousands. They attacked in the evening, at noon, in the morning and at night. They even captured three Union generals from their beds, almost without firing a shot.
This is a good book, one worth reading. It drives home the intensity and continuous nature of this conflict. You will not be disappointed.
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