From the Mountains to the Bay

The War in Virginia, January-May 1862

Ethan S. Rafuse

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780700633531, 9780700633531
• eBook ISBN: 9780700633548
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

From January to July of 1862, the armies and navies of the Union and Confederacy conducted an incredibly complex and remarkably diverse range of operations in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Under the direction of leaders like Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, George McClellan, Joseph E. Johnston, John Rodgers, Robert E. Lee, Franklin Buchanan, Irvin McDowell, and Louis M. Goldsborough, men of the Union and Confederate armed forces marched over mountains and through shallow valleys, maneuvered on and along great tidal rivers, bridged and waded their tributaries, battled malarial swamps, dug trenches and constructed fortifications, and advanced and retreated in search of operational and tactical advantage.

In the course of these operations, the North demonstrated it had learned quite a bit from its setbacks of 1861 and was able to achieve significant operational and tactical success on both land and sea. This enabled Union arms to bring a considerable portion of Virginia under Federal control—in some cases temporarily and in others permanently. Indeed, at points during the spring and early summer of 1862, it appeared the North just might succeed in bringing about the defeat of the rebellion before the year was out.

A sweeping study of the operations on land and sea, From the Mountains to the Bay is the only modern scholarly work that looks at the operations that took place in Virginia in early 1862, from the Romney Campaign that opened the year to the naval engagement between the Monitor and Merrimac to the movements and engagements fought by Union and Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley, on the York-James Peninsula, and in northern Virginia, as a single, comprehensive campaign.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Maps
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• 1. “The Romance of the Thing Is Entirely Worn”: A New Year and a Winter Campaign
• 2. “A General Conviction That Somebody Must Be Hurt”: Councils of War, the Retreat from Manassas Junction, and the Fall of Winchester
• 3. “Wondering What Would Happen Next”: Planning Operations, Commanders and Capitals, and the Fight of the Ironclads
• 4. “We Shall Have Lively Times”: Kernstown, a Pathfinder, and the Move to the Peninsula
• 5. “The Grass Will Not Grow under My Feet”: The Grand Campaign on the Peninsula Begins
• 6. “Sunny South Indeed!”: Blenker’s March to the Mountains and Problems at Yorktown
• 7. “Matters Are Progressing”: The Fight at Dam No. 1, Fredricksburg, Advance and Retreat in the Valley, and Siege Operations at Yorktown
• 8. “Let the Boys Yell!”: Harrisonburg, the Fall of Yorktown, and the Fight at Williamsburg
• 9. “We Have . . . Met the Enemy”: Eltham’s Landing, Sitlington’s Hill, a Presidential Campaign, and Drewry’s Bluff
• 10. “Affairs Have about Come to a Crisis”: McDowell Prepares, the Advance to the Chickahominy, and Jackson Returns to the Valley
• Epilogue: “If You Will Write the Decline and Fall of This Rebellion”
• Appendix A: Union Order of Battle
• Appendix B: Confederate Order of Battle
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index
• Back Cover