Civil War from Appalachian Book Company

A little known fact about the Hatfield and McCoy Feud is that nearly all of the men involved were also Civil War veterans. The Hatfield patriarch, William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield, served in the Confederate army 1861-1865. He fought in numerous skirmishes along the border territories of western Virginia and Kentucky. Unfortunately, most popular accounts of Devil Anse's Confederate service… Read more about this item

Originally published in 1890 by the Civil War veterans of the regiment, this new modern version includes the entire original text, 58 images, and an index. The author, Frank S. Reader, a member of Company I, was a newspaper editor and proprietor. His wartime experience as a clerk to both generals Averell and Sigel, as well as his newspaper background,… Read more about this item

Though West Virginia was founded for the purpose of remaining loyal to the Union, severing ties with Virginia, home of the capital of the Confederacy, would prove difficult. West Virginia's fate would be tested on its battlegrounds. In August 1863, Union general William Woods Averell led a six-hundred-mile raid culminating in the Battle of White Sulphur Springs in Green Brier… Read more about this item

19A haunting exploration of the earliest days of the Civil War. Set in the lush hills and mountains of Virginia, it recalls fundamental issues so polarizing that the people of Virginia were willing to divide their state over them – a decision that would ultimately influence the outcome of the war. In a defiant act to sustain President Lincoln's war… Read more about this item

24.95The story of Captain John Valley Young personifies the body of rugged Union Army volunteers from West Virginia during the Civil War: highly resilient, stubbornly independent, and fiercely patriotic. Using Captain Young's wartime letters to his wife, Paulina Franklin Young, and his daughters, Sarah and Emily Young, along with his diary and numerous other original soldier accounts, this book reveals… Read more about this item

In the last half of the 1850s, the Virginia counties of Cabell and Wayne became immersed in the national debate over slavery. Located only a stone's throw away from the free state of Ohio, some western Virginians practiced and defended slavery, and the contentiousness between supporters and those who opposed the institution increased dramatically as the nation moved closer to… Read more about this item

A Place of Rest for Our Gallant Boys is the story of both Civil War horrors and hope – of Army surgeons and civilians risking their own lives to save others. It is the story of heroes and heroines who worked tirelessly in the wards of a military hospital to heal sick and broken soldiers' bodies. Gallipolis, Ohio, was uniquely situated… Read more about this item

Confederate general Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was unquestionably one of the most successful and popular military leaders in the Civil War. Long regarded by some as one of Virginia's great war heroes, many people do not realize that Jackson was born and raised in what is now West Virginia. When Jackson died in 1863, there was little sympathy for him in… Read more about this item

During the early months of the Civil War Dr. (and later Major) William Parks Rucker managed to become one of the most despised individuals in the South – and a hero to those who supported the Union. He was a slave owner who fiercely opposed the Confederacy. His initial act to antagonize Southern supporters was to stab to death a… Read more about this item

This is the definitive work on a battle where both sides claimed victory, but in reality neither side won. It is the story of the disorganization of the Confederate forces and the dogged persistence of the Union army. Filled with personal reflections by soldiers, detailed yet highly readable descriptions of the battle, plus maps & photos, this book brings Carnifex… Read more about this item

The only state born as a result of the Civil War, West Virginia was the most divided state in the nation. About forty thousand of its residents served in the combatant forces—about twenty thousand on each side. The Mountain State also saw its fair share of battles, skirmishes, raids and guerrilla warfare, with places like Harpers Ferry, Philippi and Rich Mountain… Read more about this item

The Battle at Hurricane Bridge is an often overlooked Civil War action occurring at the small and otherwise quiet western Virginia village. For five hours behind the limited protection of an unfinished earthen fort, the green Union troops of the 13th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry under the command of Captain James Johnson, fought to hold off the hardened Confederate veterans… Read more about this item

The Battle of Charleston (West Virginia), fought September 13, 1862, between the Confederate forces of Gen. William Wing Loring and the Federal command of Col. Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, pales in comparison to many of the more well-known and documented engagements of the American Civil War. Yet the battle and the activities comprising the 1862 Kanawha Valley Campaign, particularly Lightburn's… Read more about this item

Formed in 1848 from Cabell, Mason and Kanawha Counties, Putnam County, Virginia, was part of the Old Dominion until June 20, 1863, when West Virginia was admitted into the Union as the thirty-fifth state. Citizens of Putnam County were intensely divided during the Civil War; it is estimated that 52% of the white male population served in the Confederacy and 48%… Read more about this item

Based primarily on his 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign journal, this biographical work on Colonel Joseph Thoburn, Commander, 1st Infantry Division, Army of West Virginia, provides significant insight on this period of the Civil War, as well as background on an important field commander of the Union Army who was a physician from Wheeling, West Virginia. "JosephThoburn was both a physician and… Read more about this item

The early morning hours of May 23, 1862 brought the horror of war to the residents of the small, mountain town of Lewisburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). A brigade of Union troops, commanded by Colonel George Crook, had occupied the heavily Confederate leaning town less than two weeks earlier. Now, Lewisburg felt the fury of a battle waged in her… Read more about this item

This book covers the period before, during, and after the Civil War in the Great Kanawha Valley from Gauley Bridge to Point Pleasant, WV. The title "Bullets and Steel" comes from a song sung by the Sandy Rangers of Wayne County during the Battle pf Scary Creek. Gauley Bridge, at the foot of the imposing mountain barrier to the east and the… Read more about this item

In slightly more than one hundred pages, including a profusion of maps and photographs, this book takes the reader on a fast-paced retelling of primarily military events in Civil War western Virginia during the campaigns of 1861. "For decades prior to the advent of the American Civil War there existed differences between eastern and western Virginia that would ultimately contribute to… Read more about this item

With new material by Tim McKinney Originally published in 1887, this work remains the only history of the First West Virginia Infantry ever published. Its twenty-five chapters contain comprehensive accounts the regiment's activities. This regiment was the first to be formed in West Virginia for defense of the Union. They participated in the first land battle of the Civil War at… Read more about this item

In the fall of 1861 Gen. Robert E. Lee arrives in the mountains of western Virginia (now West Virginia) to take command of the Confederate forces. He finds not only logistical problems caused by the terrain, but feuding between his two generals, John Floyd and Henry A. Wise. Lee will be required to bring his diplomatic skills to bear, along with… Read more about this item