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The names still resonate
after more than 130 years. Bethel. Manassas. The Shenandoah Valley
Campaign. The Peninsula Campaign. The Seven Days. Fredericksburg.
Chancellorsville. The Wilderness. Cold Harbor. The Crater. Appomattox.
In the minds of many people,
Virginia is the Civil War. It is the state most closely associated with
Confederate luminaries Lee, Jackson, Stuart, and Mosby and Union leaders
Grant, Sheridan, Burnside, McClellan, and Pope.
Virginia was literally torn
apart by the war. When the general assembly voted the state out of the
Union, citizens west of the Shenandoah Valley voted themselves out of
Virginia. But such was their native pride that when it came time to name
the newest Union state, they chose from the heart--West Virginia.
The 17 tours in this book
cover all the significant Civil War sites in both states. You may have
read about such battlegrounds as Philippi, Rich Mountain, and Sewell
Mountain without knowing exactly what they are. Touring Virginia's
and West Virginia's Civil War Sites will take you to them.
Included here are the sites
where the first soldiers from both North and South died. You'll also
visit the places where the Confederacy's greatest heroes were born, grew
up, fought, were wounded, and were buried.
Of special interest are the
numerous small battlefields that are not part of the national-parks
system, whether administered by state or local agencies or held in
private hands.
about the author
Clint Johnson is the author of Touring
the Carolina's Civil War Sites, Civil
War Blunders, In the
Footsteps of Robert E. Lee, and In
the Footsteps of Stonewall Jackson. His articles have appeared
in more than 60 magazines and newspapers. He lives in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina.
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