Rebel Chronicles: Raiders,Scouts and Train Robbers of the Upper Potomac

by Steve French

Rebel Chronicles Raiders, Scouts and Train Robbers of the Upper-PotomacFrom the introductionIn 1956, leading Mosby scholar Virgil Carrington Jones wrote Gray Ghosts and Rebel Raiders. This well-written and researched 451-page book was the first detailed study of guerrilla warfare in the Eastern Theater of the war outside "Mosby's Confederacy." In this work, Jones introduces many students of the Civil War for the first time to the exploits of Confederate raiders such as Harry Gilmor, John and Jesse McNeill, and "Lige" White. He also documented the counter-insurgency methods employed by Union commanders against the Rebel partisan threat. Consequently, Jones produced the first detailed study illuminating that there was a war beyond the major battlefields of Virginia. The war took place in the South Branch Valley of what is now West Virginia and in the mountains and along the upper-Potomac region of West Virginia and Maryland. Jones' book still stands as an important source. But now in 2012, Steve French has written a study that compliments Jones and provides readers with what the late Paul Harvey used to say was "the rest of the story." Steve has woven a narrative in the pages that follow that brings Jones up-to-date. For example, Jones devoted one-page to Sharpsburg resident and Confederate scout Andrew Leopold. Jeb Stuart's favorite scout Redmond Burke gets two-pages. Conversely, Steve French devotes several chapters to the exciting lives and controversial deaths of these two overlooked Confederates. Along the way, the reader will gain a better understanding of the border war along the Potomac, in the South Branch Valley, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. After reading this fine work, you will no doubt conclude the war in this region was often as brutal and bloody as the guerrilla war on the Kansas-Missouri border. Steve's book is buttressed by a vast array of sources, many of them never before utilized in any other studies. The bibliography alone is worth the price of this book. Some scholars have thrown out the challenge that there is nothing new to write about on the Civil War. Let them read REBEL CHRONICLES. Steve French has provided us with a fresh look at an often-ignored phase of Civil War history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1537146920
• ISBN13: 9781537146928
• Release Date: August 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.7" x 5.5"