Conquering the Valley: Stonewall Jackson at Port Republic

by Robert K. Krick

Book Overview

During May and June 1862, two decisive victories at Cross Keys and Port Republic cemented General Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson's place in the annals of American military history. This work examines the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068811282X
• ISBN13: 9780688112820
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 594 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A Valuable Contribution to the Civil War Literature

Robert Krick wrote, as far as I am aware, two books about Stonewall Jackson's campaigns. The other one is about the battle at Cedar Mountain. I have read, very much enjoyed, and learned a lot from both books. You might say that Krick's books serve as a kind of "antidote" to G.F.R. Henderson's estimable "Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War." Henderson' thesis is that Jackson was one of the great military minds of all time. A strategic genius. A sort of demi-god. Henderson tries to make the point that Jackson won so many battles because his brilliant strategies basically pre-ordained that victory would come, despite any temporaty setbacks that may have happened along the way. Krick does not outright dispute Henderson's thesis. What Henderson does instead is to provide a more complete picture of the man. However brilliant Jackson's strategies might have been, he still could have easily lost these battles if it were not for his ability to train his men for battle better than his enemies were trained, to select competent subordinates, to rally his men behind him at times when all seemed lost, and to remain cool and collected at times of enormous stress. Krick has the ability that I admire most in a writer of historical narrative. He writes in such a way as to make me feel curious about what happens next, to read on enthusiastically to discover the outcome - even though I already know the outcome. Both of Krick's books on Jackson are highly recommended.

A small battle and a great story

No one today knows more about the Army of Northern Virginia and Stonewall Jackson than Robert Krick. Some historians are great researchers and some are great writers. Krick is both. He has taken the battle of Port Republic and made it into a fascinating story. Few people, other than die hard Civil War buffs, are aware of this conflict in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It was the last battle of Stonewall Jacksons' brilliant Valley Campaign. The book covers the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic and the events leading up to them. There is the tragic story of the charge of the 8th New York, the bold attack by Sprigg Carroll and his men, the courage of Sam Moore, and the vicious fight for the "Coaling." This is historical writing at it's best, and Krick is the master of the subject.

First Rate

This is the first addition to my collection focusing on the Valley Campaign, and what better author is there to choose than Robert Krick? None, when we're talking about Jackson and his Valley Army. I have now read this book and found it to be an excellent work on the twin battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic. Krick does a fine job describing the action in exciting detail. The maps are very, very well done and go down to the regimental level, always a plus in my book. Also, a note of caution is in order. Apparently some maps in the original hardcover edition were missing a lot of text labels. I don't know if this has since been fixed, but be aware of this flaw when looking at the hardcover edition.

Lots of Detail - Best Telling of Port Republic : Nice Town

This is the most documented source on Jackson at the battles of Port Republic and Cross Keyes where Jackson's army stand between two armies that are trying to trap and squeeze him, which they almost succeed in doing at the start. Like the great author of the Gettysburg series Harry W. Pfanz, Robert Krick is the ultimate researcher on the tactics of Stonewall Jackson. Like Pfanz with Gettysburg, Krick is ultimately familiar with his subject particularly because he was the Superintendent of all the battlefields around Fredericksburg (Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and the Wilderness). Krick is also the grand researcher of soldiers' letters and writings and through his research he has weeded out fact from fiction. Examples are the puffed writings of Trimble about his brigade at Cross Keyes. Krick reveals that Trimble's writings often neglected the role of other units on the field while heaping a disproportionate amount of praise on his own. Discerning historical inaccuracies is one reason why Krick's books provide an accurate portrayal of a battle or the campaign. Others that suffer from exaggeration, misperceptions and/or ego inflation are Chief of Staff Dabney and Colonel Imboden. The references to Colonel Dabney are humorous to some degree as Dabney performs well in some areas, he does try hard but in a lot of cases he is not as effective as he seems to think. Imboden's false references to interaction with Jackson make one question his famous comments that he witnessed Lee's distressed comments after Picket's Charge.The village of Port Republic is still a small town nestled against the South and North Rivers that form the South Shenandoah with Cross Keyes across the North River to the west. The area still looks the same with modest encroachment from Harrisonburg just west of Cross Keyes. Krick details a blow-by-blow account of the battle interlaced withy biographies of the participants, their role in battle and even quoting them from their own source material or from first person accounts about particular individuals. I particularly found the beginning of this last battle of the famous Valley Campaign fascinating as Jackson, his staff, his wagons and a small infantry unit with novice artillery are leisurely enjoying a summers' day when suddenly a complete cavalry detachment bursts on the scene almost capturing Jackson and all his staff (bagged some). The disheartening failure of the Calvary after Turner Ashby's death left no protection or early warning of the Federal rush. The story of the small infantry detachment at the end of Main Street with a few guns of artillery banding together to hold off the union force is an inspiring story. They saved the wagon train and gave time for Jackson to coordinate portions of the majority of his army resting on the opposite riverbank in time to salvage his hold on this small town. The description of Ewell's relatively easy and effective defense of Cross Keyes exemplifies Fremont's failure

combat reconstruction of a high order

An "Editor's Choice" in the Winter 1997 "MHQ Review." Editor-in-Chief Robert Cowley writes:"Krick, fortunately, is not just a prodigious researcher but a story-teller--a quality that I wish more historians took seriously....This is combat reconstruction of a high order."