The Third Battle of Winchester in September 1864 was the largest, longest, and bloodiest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley. It was the first time Stonewall Jackson’s former corps had ever been driven from a battlefield, and their defeat set the stage for the final climax of the 1864 Valley Campaign.

The Northern victory was a long time coming. After a spring and summer of Union defeat in the Valley, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant cobbled together a formidable force under Phil Sheridan, an equally redoubtable commander. Sheridan’s task was to sweep Jubal Early’s Confederate army out of the Shenandoah, reducing the verdant region of its supplies.

Five weeks of complex manoeuvring and sporadic combat followed before the opposing armies ended up at Winchester, an important town in the northern end of the Valley that had changed hands dozens of times over the previous three years. Tactical brilliance and ineptitude were on display throughout the day-long affair as Sheridan threw infantry and cavalry against the thinning Confederate ranks and Early and his generals shifted to meet each assault. A final blow against Early’s left flank finally collapsed the Southern army, killed one of the Confederacy’s finest combat generals, and planted the seeds of victory at Cedar Creek the following month.

Scott Patchan’s vivid prose, which is based upon more than two decades of meticulous research and an unparalleled understanding of the battlefield, is complimented with numerous original maps and explanatory footnotes that enhance our understanding of this watershed battle. Rich in analysis and character development, The Last Battle of Winchester is certain to become a classic Civil War battle study.