Shenandoah Valley: Unionists and the Civil War Experience Vol. I
- SKU: 2075
- ISBN: 0897255259
- Our Price:
$49.95
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Description:
(ROCKINGHAM COUNTY) UNIONISTS AND THE CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCE In the Shenandoah Valley Volume 1: Mt. Crawford and Cross Keys, Rockingham County, Virginia. Researched and compiled by David S. Rodes and Norman R. Wenger, Edited by Emmert F. Bittinger, M.Th., Ph.D. 760pp, name and place index; hard cover, dustjacket. 2009 (2003).
Following the end of the Civil War many loyal Southerners filed claims with the government for goods and supplies given or taken under Union occupation. Many of these were loyal Brethren, Mennonites and Quakers who had chosen to live peacefully at the beginning of the war and refused to take up arms against their fellow man. Many of these were opposed to slavery as well as secession and because of this saw their homes burned and their livestock shot or driven off. Near the end of the war many refugees fled north to avoid starvation in the Shenandoah Valley. The statements of the claimants and witnesses compiled in this book provide an unusually vivid image of life under an occupying army. The accounts are detailed and personal with a good deal of family genealogical data included. Stories of courage and resourcefulness while under occupation are also common. New data regarding the unionist underground railroad has also been revealed which will be of importance to the historian.
Here you will read about how the war impacted families as well as communities since each claim is tied to a precisely located community setting. As these individuals attempted to document their losses and prove their loyalty at the same time, an intimate drama emerges from each claim. The Claims Commission required the claimants to be American citizens whose residence was in a state that had seceded and they had to document that they were loyal to the Federal Government during the war period. Immediately following the title page of each claim, the editor has provided a summary of information which identifies the claimant and his family. If a claim was appealed, additional forms were provided which often contained new information.
This is the first in a multi-volume series dealing with Rockingham County unionists identifying around 300 unionists out of more than 22,000 who are known to exist by the claims they had filed.
All in all, this book should be of great interest to both genealogists and historians alike and should be in the library of anyone who has an interest in the people who lived in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War.
