Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign is a 2008 book written by Peter Cozzens and published by the University of North Carolina Press. The book studies Jackson's Valley campaign, an 1862 operation during the American Civil War. Shenandoah 1862 is sourced to both primary and secondary sources, including previously unpublished primary source material. While previous works on the campaign generally focused on the Confederate perspective of the campaign, Cozzens's work also incorporates Union material. It also challenges the traditional interpretation of inept Union leadership and an outstanding performance by Confederate commander Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, although one reviewer viewed Cozzens's criticism of Jackson as too harsh. While a reviewer for the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography noted several minor errors in the work, most reviewers praised the work for its objectivity and use of primary sources, with some predicting that Shenandoah 1862 would become the go-to work about Jackson's Valley campaign. The book was also described as demonstrating revisionist tendencies.
Content
Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign was written by Peter Cozzens, an experienced military history writer, and published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2008. While the book focuses on Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and his Shenandoah Valley campaign, an 1862 operation during the American Civil War, the book begins in late 1861, when Jackson was first transferred to the Shenandoah Valley. The book is sourced to both primary and secondary sources. In particular, a number of previously unpublished primary sources from the Union perspective were consulted by Cozzens. One reviewer stated that Shenandoah 1862 uses the relevant primary sources more than any other book about the campaign. It is illustrated and contains 13 maps, an index, and a bibliography.
One of Cozzens's conclusions is that Union Army failings during the campaign are less attributable to the alleged incompetence of Union military leadership, as has been traditionally concluded, but instead is due to mishandling by the administration of President of the United States Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's active interference in the campaign included transferring troops away from other campaigns and focusing too much on the safety of Washington, D.C. Other themes of the book include the strategic nature of the Shenandoah Valley to the Confederacy and Jackson's maturation as a military officer. The author also criticizes Jackson's leadership for excessive secrecy and a tendency to deploy his units in piecemeal fashion, although Union errors are also mentioned. One reviewer noted that Shenandoah 1862 was the first major book about the campaign to include a significant study of both sides of the campaign; two previous works had approached the topic from the Confederate perspective. Cozzens also included civilian perspectives in the work. Cozzens's original analysis is largely confined to the very beginning and the very end of the book, leaving the middle portion largely for narrative.
Reception
Johnathan C. Sheppard, of Florida State University, reviewed Shenandoah 1862 for The Historian. Sheppard predicted that the book would become the go-to resource on the campaign, passing Stonewall in the Valley by Robert G. Tanner. While he also noted that the book's battle narratives could be confusing at times, Sheppard praised Shenandoah 1862 for challenging myths about the campaign and approaching it from a balanced perspective. While reviewing the book for the Journal of Southern History, John R. Lundberg of Collin College stated that Cozzens's thorough research, including his use of primary sources, lent additional credibility to the book's "revisionist conclusions" in confronting the Confederate-slanted bias of many previous works on the topic. While noting that the amount of detail included in Shenandoah 1862 could potentially be confusing for readers, Lundberg stated that Cozzens "[shook] loose of veneer of invincibility that has long accompanied Jackson and his army" and predicted that Shenandoah 1862 would be the primary reference about Jackson's Valley campaign.