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The final volume in this comprehensive history of Confederate Virginia examines the end of the Civil War in the Old Dominion.

 By January 1865, most of Virginia's schools were closed, many newspapers had ceased publication, businesses suffered, and food was scarce. Having endured major defeats on their home soil and the loss of much of the state's territory to the Union army, Virginia's Confederate soldiers began to desert at higher rates than at any other time in the war, returning home to provide their families with whatever assistance they could muster. It was a dark year for Virginia.

Virginia at War, 1865 presents a striking depiction of a state ravaged by violence and destruction. In the final volume of the Virginia at War series, editors William C. Davis and James I. Robertson Jr. have once again assembled an impressive collection of essays covering topics that include land operations, women and families, wartime economy, music and entertainment, the demobilization of Lee's army, and the war's aftermath. The volume ends with the final installment of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire's popular and important Diary of a Southern Refugee during the War.

The University Press of Kentucky

Virginia at War

Virginia at War, 1865

The fourth collection of essays in this Civil War series “serves to remind us that there is much for us to discover beyond Virginia’s battlefields” (H-Net Reviews).

The fourth book in the Virginia at War series casts a special light on vital home front matters in Virginia during 1864. Following a year in which only one major battle was fought on Virginia soil, 1864 brought military campaigning to the Old Dominion. For the first time during the Civil War, the majority of Virginia’s forces fought inside the state’s borders. Yet soldiers were a distinct minority among the Virginians affected by the war. 

In Virginia at War, 1864, scholars explore various aspects of the civilian experience in Virginia including transportation and communication, wartime literature, politics and the press, higher education, patriotic celebrations, and early efforts at reconstruction in Union-occupied Virginia. The volume focuses on the effects of war on the civilian infrastructure as well as efforts to maintain the Confederacy. As in previous volumes, Virginia at War, 1864 concludes with an annotated excerpt from the Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War by Richmond’s Judith Brockenbrough McGuire.

“The most fully rounded account of Virginia’s wartime experience.” —Charles P. Roland, author of Reflections on Lee: A Historian’s Assessment

“This book covers some interesting areas of lesser-known history of Virginia during the Civil War.” —The Oklahoman

Virginia at War, 1864

The 3nd volume in this history of Confederate Virginia examines the effects of war on struggling families, the Hatfield-McCoy feud, and more.
 
 In the year 1863, only one major battle, The Battle of Chancellorsville, was fought in the Confederate State of Virginia. Yet the pressures of the Civil War turned the daily lives of Virginians—both soldiers and civilians—into battles of their own. 1863 was the year Stonewall Jackson died within Virginia’s borders and Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.
 
Virginia at War, 1863, examines these and other key events, revealing the political, social, and cultural ramifications of the ongoing national conflict. By this time, the war had profoundly transformed nearly every aspect of Virginia life and culture, from education to religion to commerce. Mounting casualties and depleted resources made Virginians feel the deprivations of war more deeply than ever.
 
 Contributors to this volume focus on the war's impact on Virginia's children and its newly freed slaves. They shed light on the origins of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, explore the popularity of scrapbooking as a form of personal recordkeeping, and consider the changing role of religion during wartime. The book concludes with the 1863 entries of the Diary of a Southern Refugee by Richmond's Judith McGuire.

Virginia at War, 1863

The second volume in this history of Confederate Virginia examines the effects of military occupation, industrial expansion, and the Battle of Antietam.
 
 In Virginia at War, 1862, leading Civil War historians demonstrate how no aspect of life in the Commonwealth escaped the war's impact. The collection of essays examines topics as diverse as daily civilian life and the effects of military occupation, the massive influx of tens of thousands of wounded and sick into Richmond, and the wartime expansion of Virginia's industrial base, the largest in the Confederacy.
 
 Out on the field, Robert E. Lee's army was devastated by the Battle of Antietam, and Lee strove to rebuild the army with recruits from the interior of the state. Many Virginians, however, were far behind the front lines. A growing illustrated press brought the war into the homes of civilians and allowed them to see what was happening in their state and in the larger war beyond their borders.
 
 To round out this volume, indefatigable Richmond diarist Judith McGuire continues her day-by-day reflections on life during wartime. The second in a five-volume series examining each year of the war, Virginia at War, 1862 illuminates the happenings on both homefront and battlefield in the state that served as the crucible of America's greatest internal conflict.

Virginia at War, 1862

The first volume in this comprehensive history of Virginia during the Civil War examines the early phases of secession, struggle and conflict.
 
 Several Southern states preceded Virginia in seceding from the Union, but until Virginia joined them in April 1861, the Confederacy lacked cohesion. Richmond was immediately named the capital of the fledgling nation. By the end of spring, Virginia had become the primary political and military theater of the Civil War.
 
 The first in a series of five volumes examining Virginia’s years as a Confederate state, Virginia at War, 1861, vividly portrays the process of secession, the early phases of conflict, and the struggles of ordinary Virginians to weather the brutal storms of war. Essays by eight noted Civil War scholars provide a comprehensive view of Virginians' experiences during the first year of the War Between the States.
 
 In addition to recounting the military events taking place in Virginia in 1861, this collection examines a civilian population braced for war but divided on crucial questions, an economy pressed to cope with the demands of combat, and a culture that strained to reconcile its proud heritage with its uncertain future. In exacting detail, Virginia at War, 1861 examines the earliest challenges of the Civil War, the changes war wrought, and the ways in which Virginians withstood and adapted to this profound, irrevocable upheaval.