4.0
Civil War Legacy in the Shenandoah
ByPublisher Description
This regional history examines the process of mourning and reconciliation for the people of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley in the aftermath of the Civil War.
After four bloody years of Civil War battles, the inhabitants of the Shenandoah Valley needed to muster the strength to recover, rebuild and reconcile. Most residents had supported the Confederate cause, and in order to heal the deep wounds of war, they would need to resolve differences with Union veterans.
Union veterans memorialized their service. Confederate veterans agreed to forgive but not forget. And each side was key to the rebuilding effort. The battlefields of the Shenandoah, where men sacrificed their lives, became places for veterans to find common ground and healing through remembrance.
In Civil War Legacy in Shenandoah, historian and professor Jonathan A. Noyalas examines the evolution of attitudes among former soldiers as the Shenandoah Valley sought to find its place in the aftermath of national tragedy.
After four bloody years of Civil War battles, the inhabitants of the Shenandoah Valley needed to muster the strength to recover, rebuild and reconcile. Most residents had supported the Confederate cause, and in order to heal the deep wounds of war, they would need to resolve differences with Union veterans.
Union veterans memorialized their service. Confederate veterans agreed to forgive but not forget. And each side was key to the rebuilding effort. The battlefields of the Shenandoah, where men sacrificed their lives, became places for veterans to find common ground and healing through remembrance.
In Civil War Legacy in Shenandoah, historian and professor Jonathan A. Noyalas examines the evolution of attitudes among former soldiers as the Shenandoah Valley sought to find its place in the aftermath of national tragedy.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesCivil War Legacy in the Shenandoah Reviews
4.0
“An interesting book on the post war relationship between Union and Confederate soldiers in the Shenandoah Valley. It is the story of one of the few instances where Blue and Gray came together in harmony.
Throughout the south Confederate soldiers were free to honor their fallen comrades through memorials and annual observations. In the North memorial services took place in cemeteries where the fallen had been reburied after the war . The Shenandoah Valley was the resting place of countless Union soldiers and a desire sprang up among their surviving comrades to honor them. This would mean of course traveling to back to the place of the 'burning' where the residents had more reason than most to hate Union soldiers.
Twenty years after the war a 'spirit of reconciliation' began to sweep across the country prompting a member of the 14th New Hampshire Veterans to recommend they hold their 20th anniversary in the Shenandoah Valley so they could visit the graves and honor the memory of their fallen. Interest grew in this idea to the point where they invited 'all veterans who served in the Valley who desired to do so to join." Plans came together until there was only one obstacle left. How would the citizens of Winchester VA respond to a large group of Union soldiers descending on their city?
To their surprise the Winchester City Council welcomed the idea even going so far as to organizing a welcoming committee. The only 'hitch' in the plan was the 'excursion' was planned to close to the anniversary of the Third Battle of Winchester. The Union veterans assured them that they were not there to 'gloat' over their victory but rather to honor their own dead.
Upon arriving in Winchester memories began to overwhelm the Union Veterans. 'We had been there before, in and out,in the day and in the night, pursuing and chased, running as for dear life. Unionists and Rebels playing shuttlecock through the unhappy town. We had been there before, many of us lying wounded in the warehouse and hospitals: some of us as provost guards: some of us as prisoners, in all shapes in all plights, Sheridan's Veterans had been in Winchester."
They were led from the train station to the Courthouse, a procession marched in their honor and warm words greeted them on the Courthouse steps. They later camped on the fields of Third Winchester with a view of the Hackwood House which still showed signs of the battle. A commemorative ceremony was held on the battlefield and then later the veterans marched to Winchester National Cemetery. Before this tributes to the causalities of Sheridan's campaign were restricted to Northern cemeteries but now they could take place by their actual gravesides.
After their memorial tributes the Union veterans then moved 'across the street' to the Stonewall Cemetery where they placed flowers and spoke more tributes. The citizens of Winchester were 'astonished' at this. Healing had truly begun.
Another excursion took place in 1885, this time going further south to Harrisonburg and other points in the Valley such as Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. During these trips monuments were set up to the various Units that served and promises were made that these memorials would not be taken care of and never vandalized. Competitive rifle matches were held in good fun and grand dinners attended. Some tried to recreate Sheridan's Famous Ride. What started out as memorial journeys became instead times of healing for both sides.
In 1886 a gathering was held in Winchester New Hampshire. Confederate Veterans were invited and were so well treated that the Union veterans refused to let them pay for anything.
Not everyone was open to these new ideas of forgiving and moving on. Jubal Early castigated any Confederate Veteran who attended these 'reunions' and some Union veterans decried the lack of any mention of slavery but these objections could not stop the wave that had been started.
In 1899 President McKinley (who served under Sheridan during the 1864 campaign) took his own personal tour of the Valley. His train was met with 'flags and flowers'. He stopped at National Cemetery to pay his respects and like other Union veterans before him crossed the street to pay homage to the Confederate dead. Visits like this continued on into the early 1900s.
"Rarely did veterans meet face to face with their former enemies when revisiting wartime memories." according to M. Keith Harrison. If that is true then a remarkable thing in the post war years of the Shenandoah Valley.”
About Jonathan A Noyalas
Jonathan A. Noyalas is assistant professor of history and director of the Center for Civil War History at Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown, Virginia. A widely published Civil War historian who is active in battlefield preservation, he has served as a consultant for the National Park Service, the Civil War Trust and National Geographic.
Other books by Jonathan A Noyalas
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