Reviewed:
In addition to the Amazon link, copies are available for
purchase from the author.
Eric Wittenberg has become one of my favorite writers on Civil War topics. His recent
The Battle of White Sulpher Springs is a brief book, focused on a little known action in western Virginia during the period when the modern state of West Virginia was being formed.
The cast of characters alone is rather intriguing: the Federal Cavalryman, William Woods Averell (assigned to West Virginia after serving as a scapegoat for Hooker's loss a Chancellorsville), Colonel William "Mudwall" Jackson (a rather less successful 2nd cousin of Stonewall Jackson), and Colonel George S. Patton (grandfather of the famous WWII General.) Wittenberg also devotes some attention to the nearly unknown Captain Paul Freiherr von König, a German serving on Averell's staff, killed during the battle.
The book focuses on a raid in August 1863, led by Averell, to seize a law library at Lewisberg, West Virginia, for use by the newly formed state government of West Virginia. It follows the path of Averell's raid until he encounters Patton's forces at White Sulpher Springs and the ensuing battle, and then covers Averell's subsequent retreat.
The book is very clear, well written and well researched, and gives considerable insight into one of the smaller dramas of the sort that are frequently overlooked.
