Coming Soon in the Emerging Civil War Series: The Rise of Stonewall

ECW’s self-professed “Stonewall Jackson fanboy” hits the Shenandoah Valley for a two-part retelling of Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign.

The Rise of Stonewall starts in the wake of Jackson’s loss at Kernstown and continues through his victory at First Winchester. The balance of the campaign will appear in volume 2, Victory in the Valley.

The Rise of Stonewall includes a foreword by Jonathan Noyalas, director of the McCormick Civil War Institute at Shenandoah University. “Jonathan is the foremost authority on the Shenandoah Valley and the Civil War, so I couldn’t be more thrilled to work with him on this,” Chris said. The book also contains maps by Edward Alexander and appendices by Kevin Donovan, Michael Gionfroddo, Jonathan Noyalas, and Aaron Siever.

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About the Book:

Stonewall Jackson might have been little more than a folk hero were it not for the events in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1862.

Jackson’s famous stand at First Manassas earned him one of the war’s catchiest nicknames, but the months that followed, the luster of “the mighty Stonewall” seemed to dim. An inauspicious autumn, a controversial performance during the frozen Romney Campaign, a revolt among some of his key subordinates, the evacuation of Winchester, and his defeat at the battle of Kernstown all dealt blow after blow to his vaunted reputation.

By early April 1862, Federal forces converged on Jackson’s outnumbered army from the north and west. Internal strife, particularly with his larger-than-life cavalry commander, inhibited efficient performance and dampened morale. Mercurial spring weather froze, soak, and roasted Jackson’s men, making daily life often muddy and miserable.

“Now, it appears to me, is the golden opportunity for striking a blow,” Jackson announced.

Thus began, improbable as it was, a military campaign that transformed Stonewall Jackson into the most famous Confederate in the world—and into one of the war’s most legendary figures.

From the dreary days following the Kernstown defeat through a string of victories at McDowell, Front Royal, and Winchester, Jackson marched up and down the Valley and out into the western mountains, covering vast distances in incredible amounts of time, using knowledge of the landscape and the local roads to shield his movements and ensure surprise.

The Rise of Stonewall is the first of a two-volume account of Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862, told in the reader-friendly style that has become the hallmark of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series.