Time Life Books, Alexandria, Va., 1998. 10 1/4 x 10 1/4, hardcover with dust jacket, 168 pages, illustrated, index. Brand new condition.

This book is by and of the soldiers and civilians who fought in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley of Virginia Campaign. Through their words and images you can relieve the emotions, the terrifying rush of events, the horrors- and even the human comedy- of the Civil War. Thus you hold in your hands an album of personal recollections from letters, diaries, photographs, sketches, and artifacts.

To compile this special volume, we combed hundreds of sources, both published and unpublished. We had invaluable help from an extensive network of consultants. Using our own diverse resources and historical materials in libraries and archives around the United States, we were able to assemble a dramatic narrative told from many perspectives: manuscript letters and journals- some previously unpublished- regimental histories and privately printed memoirs, articles in little known historical society publications, and more. Then we set about the painstaking task of locating photographs of these soldiers and townsfolk to accompany their personal accounts.

That so many firsthand accounts survived is due to a few accidents of history. Soldiers could mail a letter home for only three cents. And the mail systems set up by the opposing armies were amazingly reliable. A surprising number of recruits could write, and write vividly.

Field sketches abound, too. Before photo engraving was developed to reproduce photographs in newspapers and magazines, periodicals such as Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly employed artists who traveled with the army to depict events for readers. These correspondents drew virtually everything of possible interest: battles, lounging soldiers, the odd piece of equipment. Sketches dashed off in a few minutes during a battle- often at great personal peril- were taken by courier to the publication, where they were transformed into woodblock engravings suitable for printing.

Another element that adds to the unique texture of this album is the photographs. Technical innovations during the 1850's brought the fledgling craft into its own, and the Civil War was the first in history to be extensively recorded by the camera. In the blockaded South, photographers lacked supplies and equipment and rarely covered the action. The North's activities, by contrast, are well chronicled, thanks to the efforts of men who endured great hardship. Photographers like Mathew Brady and his assistants spent months following the army, etching with light the brave faces of the soldiers, as well as the bodies stiffened on the field. When Brady's stark photographs of the dead were first exhibited in New York City in 1862, the public thought, albeit briefly, that such horrific images could actually bring the war to an end.

So here you find living testimony from the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. As you look into the eyes of these soldiers and civilians, as you read the words of those dazed by the violence around them or by the grief that follows the fighting, perhaps it will be possible to perceive more clearly their shattering experiences.

Front over Photograph: Federal cavalrymen in the foreground view Confederate prisoners resting under guard on the far slope. The captives, among some 1,100 Rebels taken in the Battle of Fisher's Hill, near the end of the Valley campaign, would shortly be marched north to trains that would carry them to prison camps.


Front cover quotation: "The Rebels drove us about five miles then we drove them back about twenty." Sergeant Peter B. Boarts, 22nd Iowa Infantry. Boarts was wounded in action on October 19, 1864, at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Va.