About the Author

Peter Cozzens is an independent scholar and Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Department of State. He is author or editor of nine highly acclaimed Civil War books, including The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth (from the University of North Carolina Press).

Reviews

A compelling chronological and bilateral narrative of the entire campaign from March to June 1862. Using primary source materials from both sides, Cozzens offers new interpretations of the campaign and of Stonewall Jackson's legendary success, which was not nearly as brilliant as it appeared but was as much the result of Union failure as the triumph of Southern arms. . . . Jackson's errors are covered here, as are those of a succession of Union commanders, all really learning their trade in these early stages of the war. Sure to become the standard work on the campaign, this book is strongly recommended.--Library Journal

A magnificent, well-documented study of one of the most important campaigns of the Civil War.--Washington Times

A must read for those who want to develop a more complete understanding of this essential campaign in Civil War history.--Southern Historian

A welcome, much-needed addition to Civil War campaign studies; valuable to scholars and enthusiasts alike. Highly recommended. --Choice

An excellent, unbiased view of both sides in the early part of the war and is strongly recommended for those interested in how the soldiers and leadership conducted themselves during the 1862 Shenandoah campaign.--On Point

An incredibly learned and absorbing exercise of history, the best single work on any Civil War campaign to appear in many, many decades.--Open Letters

Cozzens is . . . a master of Civil War military history at tactical and operational levels. He deploys a large body of unfamiliar primary material in this detailed analysis of a campaign less one-sided than the accepted view that it represented Union blundering and the triumph of Confederate planning and execution, signaling the emergence of one of history's great generals, Stonewall Jackson.--Publishers Weekly

Has the mythos that surrounds Jackson the icon overwhelmed the human foibles and military failures that bedeviled Jackson the man? Cozzens offers a magisterial examination of the Valley Campaign to answer this and many other questions. He brings scrupulous research and a keen analytic eye to Jackson's logistics and tactics. The result is a vigorous account that captures both Union and Confederate perspectives and brings a much needed modern interpretation to one of the war's most storied campaigns.--Civil War Times

The definitive history of the Valley Campaign.--Army Magazine

Utilizing his extensive collection of sources, the author paints for the reader an excellent description of the region in which the campaign took place. . . . Cozzen's book, both in its research and scope, will certainly surpass Robert G. Tanner's impressive Stonewall in the Valley as the standard work on the 1862 Valley Campaign.--The Historian