by Jonathan A. Noyala
El Dorado Hills, Ca.: Savas Beatie, 2024. Pp. xii, 167.
Illus., maps, appends, e-notes, biblio. $19.65 [a[er. ISBN:1611217156
The Forgotten Battle of Cool Creek
The battle of Cool Creek (July 17-18, 1864) was fought along the Shenandoah River in Clarke County, Virginia, and is almost unknown to most students of the Civil War, at best a footnote to the Battle of Monocacy and Early’s failed attempt to seize Washington, D.C. In this book Prof. Noyala, Director of Shenandoah University's McCormick Civil War Institute, tells the story of this battle, in which close to 15,000 soldiers fought, with casualties of almost 1,000 dead and wounded. was overshadowed by the greater events at Monocacy, the Battle of Atlanta, and the Overland Campaign.
Noyala looks at the Union’s Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright’s search for Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s corps in the Shenandoah and the fighting on July 17–18, 1864, analyses the choices made by the commanders on both sides, discusses the effect of the terrain and location on the combat, and explores how the struggle affected the troops on both sides by its almost instantaneous outcome and the subsequent long-term effects.
Noyala focuses on several key “What-ifs” stemming from decisions made by the commanders, offering some idea as to what might have been done to turn the outcome into a Union victory, rather than a loss that allowed Early’s army to remain in the Valley, and ultimately threaten Washington, D.C.
1 What might have been the fate of Early’s army had Wright pushed his command further west?
2. What would have happened to Early’s army if the Union’s Maj. Gen. William Averell’s forces had moved faster from Martinsburg to Winchester, and thus sandwiched the Confederates between two armies?
3, What might have happened to Early’s forces if Wright had continued his pursuit rather than returning to Grant’s army at Petersburg?
4. Why didn’t Union Brig. Gen. James B. Ricketts carry out Wright’s order to support Col. Joseph Thoburn’s troops?
While Cool Creek was not a major battle, with no effect on the war or even the Overland Campaign, in addressing these questions, Noyala tells us about the soldiers, their experiences, families, and communities. The book is full of vignettes about the complexity of what the soldiers went through.
Recommended.
Our Reviewer: David Marshall has been a high school American history teacher in the Miami-Dade School district for more than three decades. A life-long Civil War enthusiast, David is president of the Miami Civil War Round Table Book Club. In addition to numerous reviews in Civil War News and other publications, he has given presentations to Civil War Round Tables on Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the common soldier. His previous reviews here include, From Antietam to Appomattox with Upton’s Regulars, Our Flag Was Still There, Never Such a Campaign, The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Gettysburg Retreat through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, Unforgettables, Bayou Battles for Vicksburg, Race to the Potomac, Conflict of Command, The World Will Never See the Like, The War that Made America, A Fine Opportunity Lost, The Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West, The Limits of the Lost Cause on Civil War Memory, War in the Western Theater, J.E.B. Stuart: The Soldier and The Man, The Inland Campaign for Vicksburg, All for the Union: The Saga of One Northern Family, and Voices from Gettysburg.
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Note: The Blood Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah is also available in e-editions.
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