Virginia at War, 1863

Between the epic battles of 1862 and the grueling and violent military campaigns that would follow, the year 1863 was oddly quiet for the Confederate state of Virginia. Only one major battle was fought on its soil, at Chancellorsville, and the conflict was one of the Army of Northern Virginia’s greatest victories. Yet the pressures of the Civil War turned the daily lives of Virginians—young and old, men and women, civilians and soldiers—into battles of their own. Despite minimal combat, 1863 was an eventful year in Virginia history—Stonewall Jackson died within its borders and Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. In Virginia at War, 1863, editors William C. Davis and James I. Robertson Jr. present these and other key events, as well as a discussion of the year’s military land operations to reveal the political, social, and cultural ramifications of the ongoing national conflict. By this time, the war had profoundly transformed nearly every aspect of Virginia life and culture, from education to religion to commerce. Mounting casualties and depleted resources made the citizens of the Commonwealth feel the deprivations of war more deeply than ever. Virginia at War, 1863 surveys these often overlooked elements of the conflict. Contributors focus on the war’s impact on Virginia’s children and its newly freed slaves. They shed light on the origins of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, explore the popularity of scrapbooking as a form of personal recordkeeping, and consider the changing role of religion during wartime and the uncertain faith of Virginia’s Christians. The book concludes with the 1863 entries of the Diary of a Southern Refugee by Richmond’s Judith Brockenbrough McGuire. At the midpoint of the Civil War, the hostility of this great American struggle had become an ingrained part of Virginia life. Virginia at War, 1863 is the third volume of a five-book series that reexamines the Commonwealth’s history as an integral part of the Confederacy. The series looks beyond military campaigns and tactics to consider how the war forever changed the people, culture, and society of Virginia.

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William C. Davis, professor of history and director of programs at Virginia Tech's Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, is the author of numerous books, including The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf. James I. Robertson Jr. is Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at Virginia Tech and director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. He is the author of Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend