Booknotes: The Confederate Soldiers of Rockbridge County, Virginia

New Arrival:
• The Confederate Soldiers of Rockbridge County, Virginia: A Roster
by Robert J. Driver, Jr. (McFarland, 2016).

West and Trans-Mississippi Civil War enthusiasts have done much to narrow the gap in recent decades, but the East still dominates when it comes to sheer numbers of often serially published obsessives (in a good way) matched with all manner of eastern theater associated topics. According to the author bio attached to The Confederate Soldiers of Rockbridge County, Virginia, Robert Driver has written 12 books on Virginia and Maryland Confederate infantry, cavalry, artillery, and sailors. Way back when, my very first published review was of a Driver book. He's a well respected researcher, and the new volume "provides a comprehensive roster of all known Confederate soldiers, sailors and marines from Rockbridge County, Virginia, or those who served in units raised in the County. Washington College and Virginia Military Institute alumni who were from Rockbridge, enlisted in local companies or lived in the County before or after the war are also included. Complete service records are given, along with photographs where possible." Beyond a very brief introduction and preface, the roster itself constitutes essentially the entire book. It looks like a valuable tool for interested parties to add to their reference libraries.