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    Remembering Virginia's Confederates
    Remembering Virginia's Confederates
    Remembering Virginia's Confederates
    Ebook229 pages55 minutes

    Remembering Virginia's Confederates

    By Sean M. Heuvel and Col. J.E.B. Stuart IV U.S. Army (Retired)

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    About this ebook

    The commonwealth of Virginia holds a prominent and distinguished place in American Civil War history. Home to the Confederacy's capital city of Richmond, more major battles were fought in Virginia than in any other state. The commonwealth also produced some of the war's most legendary and iconic figures, including Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and J. E. B. Stuart. Images of America: Remembering Virginia's Confederates explores the Confederate military and government service of a wide array of Virginia residents, ranging from the most prominent generals, politicians, and spies to little-known enlisted men. It also acknowledges their dedication and sacrifice to a cause in which they strongly believed.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439637678
    Remembering Virginia's Confederates

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      Remembering Virginia's Confederates - Sean M. Heuvel

      unparalleled.

      INTRODUCTION

      The Commonwealth of Virginia is a state rich in history, from the earliest days of Native American settlement to European colonization on through to the present day. Its citizens have played an influential role in all stages of the American experience, particularly during the Civil War. While many Virginia residents remained with the Union during that bloody conflict, the majority cast their lot with the Confederate cause. As such, this book fulfills my long-standing desire to document the Confederate service of a wide cross section of Virginians during the Civil War. In the generations since that conflict, scholars have written extensively about Virginia’s role in that war. However, few works provide a pictorial portrait of Virginians who contributed to the Confederate cause. Remembering Virginia’s Confederates is intended to help fill that gap, providing views of prominent political and military leaders, as well as the lesser-known enlisted men and civilians who committed themselves to the Confederacy. Previous authors in this series created excellent works focused on other states, including Remembering North Carolina’s Confederates, Remembering Kentucky’s Confederates, and Remembering Georgia’s Confederates. However, Virginia’s political prominence and strategic importance during the war invites new insights on those who led and those who followed. The fateful choices Virginians made before, during, and after the war mirrored cultural and ideological differences between the North and South. These differences would separate families, races, and communities, as well as the Union.

      Few Southern states could claim as distinguished a history or such high level of importance during this period as the Commonwealth of Virginia. Although some of its Colonial-era preeminence was lost when Northern states gained greater populations and political influence in the antebellum era, Virginia was a critically important state in the emerging Confederacy. It was strategically located only a short distance from Washington, D.C., the Union’s capital. Virginia became an important barrier to the Deep South and served as an effective first line of defense for invading Union armies. As William C. Davis noted in his book, Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America, Richmond, Virginia, was also the South’s greatest manufacturing center, second only to Atlanta as a rail hub and New Orleans as a financial center. In many ways, Virginia offered vital infrastructure and resources that were crucial to the Confederacy’s continued development. The movement of the Confederacy’s capital from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond after Virginia’s secession underscored the Commonwealth’s vital importance to the fledgling nation.

      John G. Selby wrote in his book, Virginians at War: The Civil War Experiences of Seven Young Confederates, that Virginia had a number of mosts making it unique among Confederate states. These included the most citizens among Southern states, the most slaves, the most famous Southern generals, and the most wartime fighting within its territory. Although it was not among the first states to secede from the Union, Virginia bore the brunt of battle during this long and bloody conflict. The two national capitals’ close proximity ensured that Virginia would see heavy fighting throughout the Civil War. Several of the war’s most important engagements, including First Manassas (Bull Run), the Seven Days’ Battles, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg were fought within its borders. Accordingly, more soldiers fought and died in Virginia than in any other state. Robert E. Lee’s famous surrender at the Appomattox Court House, which effectively ended the war, also took place in Virginia. Today more battlefield sites are open to the public in Virginia than in any other state.

      Aside from historic battles and events, Virginia contributed large amounts of manpower and resources to the Confederate war effort. According to the Museum of the Confederacy, there were approximately 200,000 military-eligible white males (between ages 17 and 50) in Virginia in 1860, constituting the largest military-age population of any Confederate state. Records show that as many as 75 percent of those men served in some wartime capacity, including some 20,000 men from western Virginia who fought against the Confederacy. Regarding military units, Virginia furnished more than 70 infantry regiments, over 50 cavalry battalions, and at least 125 artillery batteries to the Confederate army. Among these large numbers, approximately 20,000 to 30,000 Virginians died in Confederate service during the course of the war. Virginia also contributed several talented and enterprising naval officers and sailors to the emerging Confederate navy. Further, Hampton Roads, Virginia, was home to the war’s most prominent naval battle between the ironclads Monitor and Merrimack in 1862.

      Although Virginia played a key role in the short-lived Confederacy, it was by no means a hotbed of secession. With cultural and ancestral ties to its Southern neighbors, Virginia also had commercial ties to Mid-Atlantic States and points north. Thus, the Commonwealth occupied a challenging position when the secession crisis began. Despite the many Virginians who supported leaving the Union, there were many who favored moderation and compromise. There also were active pro-Union forces in the Commonwealth, particularly in many of the counties now comprising West Virginia. Even as late as April 4, 1861, secessionist delegates lacked enough votes in a special state convention to approve leaving the Union. However, the April 1861 Fort Sumter crisis and Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s subsequent call for states to raise regiments to quell the rebellion quickly changed public opinion. Unwilling to participate in an invasion of their Southern neighbors, Virginians finally approved ordinances of secession on April 17. While Virginians were relatively late to join the Confederate cause, many individuals featured in this book served with matchless tenacity and determination.

      For many Virginians, their passion for the cause continued well into the postwar era. Many ex-Confederate Virginians shaped how later generations of Americans viewed the Confederacy and the Civil War. For instance, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early was a driving force behind what historians later named the Lost Cause movement. In Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, author David W. Blight notes that Early’s principle aim was not only to vindicate Southern secession and glorify the Confederate soldier, but also to launch a propaganda assault on popular history and memory. The Lost Cause evolved as a literary and intellectual movement seeking to justify

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