Jack May's War

Robert Perry
Historians usually assume that the battles fought in Southwestern Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Eastern Tennessee played an insignificant role in the outcome of the Civil War. This book challenges that assumption.
Focusing on the career of Colonel Andrew Jackson May, for whom the defense of the region was a personal crusade, Professor Perry shows that the victories which the Confederates won in this theater, allowing them to retain control of Preston’s Saltworks and the Viriginia-Tennessee railroad, preserved the integrity of the Confederacy and thereby prolonged the war. Using letters, diaries, battle reports, and other primary sources, he fashions an absorbing narrative that finally does justice to long-neglected subjects like the Battle of Ivy Mountain, the Battle of Princeton, Marshall’s three invasions of Eastern Kentucky, Toland’s Raid on Wytheville, and the Battle of Saltville. If you are looking for a detailed, well-researched account of these events, this is the book for you.
Jack May’s War by Robert Perry; $14.95; ISBN 1-57072-071-1; xx, 249 pp.; trade paper. Available immediately.