It’s strange that there is no book that covers the entire 1864 battles in the Shenandoah from New Market through Cedar Creek. This volume details less than a month, from July 11 through August 4. The compressed time offers a granular description of the campaign from the retreat of Early from Washington until the defeat of McCausland’s cavalry at Moorefield after the Chambersburg raid.

Patchan is the expert on this campaign, as is clear from his expert management of the narrative. In clear prose, he offers excellent character studies of the leaders on both sides, detailed tactical descriptions of each skirmish and battle, and high level strategic analysis and performance reviews.

This is one of those books that is thorough and definitive yet at the same time engaging and readable. ( )

Besides giving a detailed analysis of events in the time in question, essentially from when Jubal Early fell back from Fort Stevens to Phil Sheridan arriving in the Shenandoah Valley to settle accounts once and for all, Patchan also strives to put the this campaign in some broader perspective. The arguement being that Early had an impact out of all proportion to the size of his force, and quite probably bought the Confederacy some more time, considering all the Union troops that he drew away from Richmond. The issue is that Early might have had an even bigger impact, if he had fought more of a force-in-being campaign designed to bring maximum political embarrasment to the Lincoln Administration, instead of seeking battlefield decision over Sheridan. ( )