Jonathan A. Noyalas’ Top Ten Civil War Books

Originally published November 2020 · pp. 29–30

Jonathan A. Noyalas’ Top Ten Civil War Books From the age of five, when I toted a copy of Bruce Catton’s 630 page Picture History of the Civil War to Mrs. Pyzowski’s kindergarten class, reading, learning, and teaching about our nation’s most tumultuous and defining moment has been my life’s passion. Crafting a list of my top ten favorite Civil War titles of all time is no small task. As I peered at the bookcases in my library at home and my office at Shenandoah University, I pondered how to whittle down a substantial list of favorite books to ten. The list that follows presents books that earned a spot in my top ten because I find them thought-provoking and exemplars of fine scholarship. All these are books I frequently encourage my students to read. Some volumes are decades-old, while others are more recent works. 1. America Goes to War by Bruce Catton. Wesleyan University Press, 1958. Of all the fine books Catton wrote, I contend that this is his most significant. Unfortunately, it is probably the least wellknown. This collection of brief essays stemmed from a series of lectures Catton delivered at Wesleyan University in the spring of 1958. The essays examine a variety of topics such as the Civil War as the “first modern war,” viewing the Civil War as a political event, rather than a military one, Ulysses S. Grant’s presidency, his reflection, in the midst of the Civil Rights era, on the “attempt to solve the race problem” in the United States, and the dangers of romanticizing the Civil War. Some of Catton’s musings in this slim volume are as relevant today as they were in 1958. 2. The Negro’s Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union by James M. McPherson. Pantheon Books, 1965. This book underscores the reality that there was not one monolithic experience for African Americans during the Civil War. McPherson’s study, reprinted many times, highlights such important topics as the challenges African Americans confronted in both North and South, the ways they contributed to the Union war effort, perspectives on Abraham Lincoln, and the meanings of freedom. 3. Conquering the Valley: Stonewall Jackson at Port Republic by Robert K. Krick. Louisiana State University Press, 1996. I regard this volume, one that chronicles the final two battles of Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign, as the gold-standard of battle history. This volume presents tactical discussions of the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic that are digestible, underscores the impact these two engagements had on the soldiers involved, and also highlights how civilians caught in the middle coped. 4. For Cause & Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War by James M. McPherson. Oxford University Press, 1997. Once the Civil War erupted in the spring of 1861, various factors prompted Union and Confederate soldiers to enlist and fight. While many fine studies exploring the attitudes and motivations of Civil War soldiers have appeared in recent years, perhaps most notably Peter Carmichael’s The War for the Common Soldier, McPherson’s is a classic study that examines the diverse perspectives Union and Confederate soldiers possessed about such topics as enlistment, slavery, combat, and politics. 5. Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend by James I. Robertson Jr. Macmillan, 1997. Stonewall Jackson has been the subject of numerous biographies, including ones published after Robertson’s, but this still remains the classic study of Jackson in my estimation. While some might claim I am a bit biased in placing this book in my top-ten, as Robertson was my mentor in graduate school at Virginia Tech, this biography is a great example of what exhaustive research looks like. Furthermore, it is beautifully written and balanced in its analysis of Jackson’s generalship.

6. The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862 edited by Gary W. Gallagher. University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Throughout Gallagher’s distinguished career he has assembled some of the best historians to contribute essays to volumes about various battles and campaigns, but this remains my favorite. This collection of eight essays covering everything from strategy, personalities, how the campaign impacted the Shenandoah’s demographically diverse population, and how the campaign shaped Stonewall Jackson’s image, shows that complete understanding of any Civil War campaign only results from a multi-faceted examination of soldiers and the generals who commanded them, those caught in war’s path, and the manner in which events shaped legacies. 7. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America by Allen C. Guelzo. Simon Schuster, 2004. Approximately 15,000 books have been written about Abraham Lincoln, but arguably none presents a more detailed and eloquently written examination of the complexities surrounding our sixteenth president, the evolution of Lincoln’s thoughts about emancipation, and the reactions to the document that transformed the Civil War’s course than Guelzo’s excellent study. 8. U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth by Joan Waugh. University of North Carolina Press, 2009. For all of his success as commander of a victorious army, Ulysses S. Grant’s reputation has long been tarnished. Part biography, part memory-study, Waugh’s magnificent volume presents a fascinating examination of the evolution of Grant’s image from the Union’s savior to someone remembered as a butcher, an alcoholic, and incompetent chief executive. Waugh’s book provides an excellent framework for not only understanding Grant and how he has been remembered and commemorated, but for solidifying the point that the manner in which historical figures are viewed is as much

about what individuals did as it is about cultural influences at a particular moment. 9. Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation by Caroline E. Janney. University of North Carolina Press, 2013. While the United States endured one Civil War there were multiple memories of the conflict. This book, one I regard as the finest single-volume in the genre, addresses how those who supported the Union and Confederacy attempted to shape the conflict’s memory in the decades after the conflict. Clearly delineating a difference between reunion and reconciliation, Janney takes a nuanced approach to understanding how veterans from opposing armies could take part in activities with former foes, but refused to conceal beliefs, for instance in the case of some Union veterans, about slavery’s centrality to the conflict’s origins. 10. Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps by Amy Murrell Taylor. University of North Carolina Press, 2018. The most recently published book on this list, Taylor’s study is truly groundbreaking. As someone who has spent the better part of his career researching the complexities of the African American experience in the Shenandoah Valley I find this study powerful and compelling. It has helped shape my thinking about the complexities of emancipation and the uncertainties freedom seekers confronted. Among the many powerful stories examined in this instant classic are the efforts of twenty-seven formerly enslaved women from Harpers Ferry who lived in Philadelphia to sew garments for contrabands in Virginia. Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute and a professor in the history department at Shenandoah. He is the author or editor of numerous books on Shenandoah Valley Civil War era history. His next book, Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era is slated for release by the University Press of Florida in 2021.