Jonathan Noyalas’ Top Ten Favorite Civil War Books

By Jonathan A. Noyalas · Originally published November 2018 · p. 29

Jonathan A. Noyalas Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War. By Brian Matthew Jordan. 2014. Liveright Publishing. Having spent the better part of the past decade researching and writing about the Sheridan’s Veterans Association and other groups of Union veterans who visited the Shenandoah Valley in the war’s aftermath, I was excited about the release of Jordan’s book in 2014. Although a handful of fine studies existed prior to Jordan enumerating the activities of Union veterans, arguably none captures in a more provocative and moving manner the myriad challenges Union veterans confronted after the conflict. This book, a Pulitzer finalist, has not only informed my own recent scholarship, but is required reading for any of my senior history majors researching anything related to the experiences of Union veterans for their senior theses. Defend the Valley: A Shenandoah Family in the Civil War. By Margaretta Barton Colt. 1994. Crown Publishers. As the scene of 326 different military actions no one can fully understand the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley without understanding its impact on the region’s civilians. Colt’s volume, now one of the classic pieces of scholarship on the era in the Valley, is much more than a smartly edited collection of primary materials. The book not only provides insight into war’s impact on the Bartons, whose home Springdale sat along the Valley Pike south of Winchester, but their family, friends and slaves. I use this book so frequently, both for my own research and teaching, that I own multiple copies to avoid wearing any of them out.

Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. By James I. Robertson Jr. 1997. Macmillan. Written by one of the giants of Civil War history, also my major professor in graduate school at Virginia Tech, Robertson’s biography of Jackson is more than a chronicle of one of the conflict’s most iconic figures. This volume, arguably better than any other biography of Jackson published, provides an unparalleled analysis of Jackson’s character and decisions. When preparing a lecture or researching anything related to the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley that occurred in either 1861 or 1862 this biography of Jackson still remains one of my staple secondary sources. The Burning: Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. By John L. Heatwole. 1998. Rockbridge Publishing. Heatwole’s now classic volume brought a level of complexity to the Burning that no historian has yet been able to match. This book, which appears regularly in the bibliographies of books and articles I’ve written related to the 1864 operations in the Shenandoah, does more than provide an account of destruction from Augusta County to the banks of Cedar Creek; it opens a window to examine how Union soldiers, such as occurred in Dayton, Va., struggled with obeying orders aimed at making war against civilian populations. For Cause & Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. By James M. McPherson. 1997. Oxford University Press. Any of McPherson’s fine volumes penned since 1992 could have easily made this list, but this book is the one that remains at the head of the pack. Studying the war for me has been less about strategic decisions and tactical maneuvers (all of course important), but more about getting to know the people involved. Arguably no book brought a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what motivated soldiers since the release of Bell Wiley’s volumes than McPherson’s study. McPherson’s book remains required reading for any student in my Civil War course. Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation. By Caroline E. Janney. 2013. University of North Carolina Press. As someone who has researched, published, written and teaches about things related to Civil War memory I always look forward to the release of new studies related to the field, but Janney’s was one I particularly anticipated, especially after reading her essay in the September 2012 issue of Journal of the Civil War Era “‘I Yield to No Man an Iota of My Convictions.’” I frequently use Janney’s study with my students as not only an exemplar of fine writing and superb scholarship, but a model of how to create a nuanced understanding of something so vast and complex as postwar reunion and reconciliation. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America. By Allen C. Guelzo, 2004. Simon & Schuster. The complexities of President Abraham Lincoln’s decision for emancipation have always intrigued me, especially since much of my work in graduate school centered around Union General Robert H. Milroy’s enforcement of emancipation in the Shenandoah Valley. While much fine scholarship has been produced about Lincoln and emancipation since the release of Guelzo’s book this remains my favorite, not only for its penetrating analysis and impeccable scholarship, but its narrative eloquence. Schooling the Freedpeople: Teaching, Learning, and the Struggle for Black Freedom, 1861–1876. By Ronald E. Butchart. 2010. University of North Carolina Press. As an educator and someone whose scholarly interests have on numerous occasions centered around the African American experience during the Civil War era this book speaks to me in ways that others do not. Butchart’s volume, a study I frequently direct students who enroll in my

African Americans in the Civil War Era course to read, offers not only the best examination of the trials, tribulations and successes of white and black teachers in the postwar period, but provides confirmation that no matter the time and place, the surest path to freedom for anyone is education. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859–1863. By Edward L. Ayers. 2003. W.W. Norton & Co. Historians have lauded this book for its approach of tracking the ways two communities were impacted and reacted to events between 1859–1863. Ayers’ study has meant the most to me for what it reveals about the Civil War’s early years in the upper Shenandoah Valley. Oftentimes regarded as singularly Confederate, the depth of Ayers’ work illustrates that Augusta County, and consequently the Valley, was divided. Fifteen years since its release, this volume holds a prominent place in my personal library and is foundational reading for any of my students doing work in Shenandoah Valley history. Winchester’s Three Battles: A Civil War Driving Tour Through Virginia’s Most War-Torn Town. By Brandon H. Beck. 2016. Angle Valley Press. When I arrived at Shenandoah

University more than two decades ago as an undergraduate my mentor, the author of this volume, stressed the importance of studying the Civil War through immersing oneself in the historic landscape. Although introduced to these sites years ago by Dr. Beck, this guidebook—a substantially expanded version of one published more than twenty years ago—is an essential part of the tool kit to which I turn anytime I am asked to lead a tour of any of Winchester’s three battles. Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute and founding editor of Journal of the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era. Prof. Noyalas is the author or editor of eleven books on Civil War history and has authored more than 100 articles, essays, reviews and chapters for a variety of scholarly and popular publications. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his scholarship, teaching and service including the highest honor that can ever be bestowed upon a professor in the Old Dominion—the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award.