Civil War
Few events have shaped Virginia’s history more profoundly than the Civil War. In 1861, many white Virginians chose secession, but the inhabitants of the far northwestern counties seceded from Virginia to form a new state—West Virginia. Black Virginians were pressed into the service of a nation that fought to enslave them, but war also brought opportunity to seize their freedom and join the fight against slavery. After four years of war, the Virginia landscape was left scarred, but those wounds would quickly heal. More enduring were the emotional effects of defeat felt by former Confederates, and the horrors of enslavement remembered by Black Virginians. The memory of the war and its aftermath continue to be felt to this day.
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The Story of Virginia: Highlights from the Virginia Museum of History & Culture
The Story of Virginia tells a fascinating story, sharing more than four hundred evocative objects from the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. The Commonwealth is not merely a chapter of U.S. history; it is at the epicenter of its most pivotal moments.
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Astride Two Worlds addresses the various causes and consequences of technological change for the course and outcome of the American Civil War.
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Leading authors William Rasmussen and Robert Tilton cover the entirety of both these major figures' lives, from their early education and military training at West Point, through the Civil War and its immediate aftermath, to their retirement, examining how their lives interconnected and diverged.
Cry Havoc!: The Crooked Road to Civil War, 1861
Nelson Lankford, author of Richmond Burning, chronicles the eight critical weeks that began with Lincoln's inauguration through the explosion at Fort Sumter and the president's fateful response to it.
![Three black and white portraits on the top of the cover with a gold fancy line and old painting of a town with three people in the foreground on the bottom. Text: Unionists [in Virginia] wrapped in blue plaque like feature, politics, secession and their plan to prevent Civil War, Lawrence M. Denton](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_portrait_768x1024/public/Product%20-%20Unionist.jpg.webp?itok=dNCLgFI6 "Unionists in Virginia: Politics, Secession and Their Plan to Prevent Civil War by Lawrence M. Denton")
Unionists in Virginia: Politics, Secession and Their Plan to Prevent Civil War
In 1861, a group of Union-loyal Virginians- led by George Summers, John Brown Baldwin, John Janney, and Jubal Early, believed war was avoidable. Author and historian Lawrence M. Denton traces this remarkable story of Virginians working against all odds in a failed attempt to save a nation from war.
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