Civil War Book Review: Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864

Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 (Emerging Civil War)
by Daniel Davis and Phillip Greenwalt

Product Details

• Series: Emerging Civil War
• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Savas Beatie (January 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1611211654
• ISBN-13: 978-1611211658

The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 is a popular subject, with many histories from which to choose.

This makes it easy to overlook a new book on the subject.

For a small book, only 168 pages there is considerable information inside.

The author’s style is both easy to read and informative resulting in an enjoyable book well worth having.

The Prolog and first two chapters establish the reasons for the campaign while introducing the armies and commanders.

The heart of any campaign is the battles.

Carefully presented, with balance and intelligent analysis the book does an excellent job presenting the battles.

Many of the battles are not instantly recognizable; they are Third Winchester, Fisher’s Hill, Tom’s Brook and Cedar Creek.

Third Winchester and Cedar Creek as the most important battles have about twenty percent of the book devoted to them.
“The Burning” Sheridan’s destruction of the valley infrastructure is well documented and chilling.

This is total war, designed to close the back door to Washington forever, which it did.

Appendix C looks at our memory of the campaign, with many stories and Thomas Buchanan Read’s poem.

You always want to read all the appendices of books in the Emerging Civil War Series and this is no exception.

Hal Jespersen’s maps are an invaluable asset for any book.

Expecting excellence, it is easy to overlook what great maps he does.

Well placed, detailed and informative they are invaluable while reading and cannot be left behind when taking the four driving tours.

Illustrations abound both period and contemporary expanding the reading experience.

This is the newest book in the Savas Beatie Emerging Civil War Series and it is every bit as good as the previous books.

I recommend this book and the series to everyone interested in the American Civil War.