James I. Robertson Jr – författare

Here, seen through the eyes of the men themselves, is the story of the Confederacy's legendary Stonewall Brigade. Most Civil War accounts treat of battles and armies. The focus of this exciting account is sharper, narrower: a single brigade, the basic unit of attack of one of those armies.The Stonewall Brigade and its first commander, Thomas J. Jackson, won their nickname at the bloody baptism of First Manassas. Over the next four years ""Jackson's foot cavalry"" achieved fame and sustained losses matched by few American military units before or since. There were some 2,600 men serving in the brigade at the start of the war. At Appomattox-thirty-nine engagements later-only 210 remained, none above the rank of captain. But these men from out of the Valley of Virginia had written their names upon the pages of history.In The Stonewall Brigade the author, a distinguished scholar of the Civil War, has given equal billing with the immortal Jackson to such soldiers as Lieutenant David Barton, Captain Kyd Douglas, and Private John Casler. He has attempted to capture the camp life, the marches, the personal experiences in battle rather than concentrate on well-known strategy and familiar Confederate leaders. Similarly, descriptions of battles are written from within the ranks rather than from command posts. The result is a vivid and often moving account of courage and cowardice, triumph and heartbreak-and endurance perhaps without parallel.

Since 1982, the renowned Civil War historian James I. ""Bud"" Robertson’s Civil War Sites in Virginia: A Tour Guide has enlightened and informed Civil War enthusiasts and scholars alike. The book expertly explores the commonwealth’s Civil War sites for those hoping to gain greater insight and understanding of the conflict. But in the years since the book’s original publication, accessibility to many sites and the interpretive material available have improved dramatically. In addition, new historical markers have been erected, and new historically significant sites have been developed, while other sites have been lost to modern development or other encroachments. The historian Brian Steel Wills offers here a revised and updated edition that retains the core of the original guide, with its rich and insightful prose, but that takes these major changes into account, introducing especially the benefits of expanded interpretation and of improved accessibility. The guide incorporates new information on the lives of a broad spectrum of soldiers and citizens while revisiting scenes associated with the era’s most famous personalities. New maps and a list of specialized tour suggestions assist in planning visits to sites, while three dozen illustrations, from nineteenth-century drawings to modern photographs, bring the war and its impact on the Old Dominion vividly to life. With the sesquicentennial remembrances of the American Civil War heightening interest and spurring improvements, there may be no better time to learn about and visit these important and moving sites than now.