Review - " The Key to the Shenandoah Valley: Geography and the Civil War Struggle for Winchester " by Edward McCaul

[The Key to the Shenandoah Valley: Geography and the Civil War Struggle for Winchester by Edward B. McCaul, Jr. (McFarland, 2023). Softcover, maps, photos, appendix section, endnotes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:vii,187/234. ISBN:978-1-4766-8398-0. $39.95]

When a town exchanges hands repeatedly during a conflict, it's usually a strong indication that the location itself possesses intrinsic military value or is a critical waypoint of some kind. During the Civil War, both possibilities held true for Winchester, Virginia, which, by historian Edward McCaul's estimate, was either occupied or evacuated an incredible 72 times between 1861 and 1864, the latter year witnessing the final end of major Confederate operations in the Lower Shenandoah Valley.

The author of excellent books covering Civil War artillery fuzes and the early-war naval contest for Memphis, Tennessee, McCaul describes his new study The Key to the Shenandoah Valley: Geography and the Civil War Struggle for Winchester as being a "philosophical history book," which seems like an apt description given the volume's atypically expansive and holistic approach to studying the role of geography in warfare. In it, McCaul moves beyond the most simplistic and limited definitions of geography that don't advance discussion beyond certain fundamentals such as location, distances, and topography. Indeed, the author approaches the topic of geography in the most expansive manner possible, exploring its impact on the grand strategic, strategic, operational, and tactical levels of warfare. So, in addition to taking into account the natural lay of the land and the purposeful military and civilian "improvements" applied to it, the book folds into its examination of military geography many other aspects such as key natural resources, technology, climate, weather, vegetation, and soil conditions.

In text and maps, McCaul paints a highly informative picture of the topography in and around Winchester. Situated within a bowl of sorts, Winchester was nearly encircled by higher ground that, in order to adequately defend the town, would have required far more troops than either side was willing or able to assign to its permanent occupation. One can readily see why that quality and others contributed to Winchester's extended cycle of occupation and abandonment, but there were clear reasons to occupy it for even a short time. While McCaul rejects the popular impression that the Shenandoah Valley was the true "breadbasket" of Lee's army, the Winchester environs and the rest of the Valley nevertheless were important sources of food and fodder. As most Civil War students know, the town was a Lower Valley road nexus and drew requisite attention from both sides as a key component of the sheltered raid/invasion corridor that the Shenandoah Valley as a whole represented. Any substantial Confederate force that occupied Winchester was in position to either conduct or threaten a raid into Maryland or Pennsylvania, while on the other side a strong Union force occupying the town effectively screened the flank and rear of primary offensive operations overland between Washington and Richmond. In several places (including in a standalone chapter citing numerous examples), the book constructs a strong case that possession of Winchester almost routinely dictated which side held the overall initiative on the Virginia front. That well-supported argument forms one of the volume's most prominent themes.

All six chapters covering the same number of engagements fought in the area surrounding Winchester [First Kernstown (March 22-23, 1862), First Winchester (May 25, 1862), Second Winchester (June 13-15, 1863), Second Kernstown (July 24, 1864), Third Winchester (September 19, 1864), and Cedar Creek (October 19, 1864)] offer perceptive observations of the critical impact of military geography on conducting battle. These focused accounts are additionally supported by numerous high-quality maps, drawings, and modern photographs. Given the overlap in vicinity, one might expect to encounter a lot of repetition in the text, but you mainly see that in each battle chapter's discussion of geography's grand strategic context. There are actually quite a number of considerations unique to each battle. In addition to being a function of differing strategic and operational conditions, contrasting sizes of armies, time of year, and frequently dissimilar directional approaches tended to make each battle rather distinctive in terms of where on the battlefield, and in what ways, topography most strongly shaped tactics. Also shown are the ways in which other aspects of McCaul's wider definition of geography, such as weather events, soil conditions, and technology (ex. macadamized roads and telegraph communications), also conferred tactical features particular to each battle. The clear common thread is that expansive geographical awareness and understanding were something that every successful commander had to take into account as a key element in the decision-making, conduct, and outcomes associated with all battles.

Succeeding chapters move beyond Winchester, and even the American Civil War itself, to more generally summarize the impact of geography on human history and warfare. An important lesson to be drawn from those discussions is that geography and the ways in which technology can be utilized to exploit or mitigate its impact on warfare are something that every high-ranking military and political figure must attempt to realistically comprehend. History teaches us that failure to do so has resulted in innumerable catastrophes.

Returning to the American Civil War, but staying in the realm of more general discussion, two more chapters look at geography's relationships with command decisions (as related to strategy, operations, resources, and army health) and technology (in the form of steam power, railroads, telegraphy, horsepower, and geographically dependent natural resources). In them, readers are usefully reminded of the fact that, while sagacious decision-making and military technology can be used to lessen geography's constraining influences, complete mastery over the many challenges involved can never be fully achieved.

Edward McCaul's The Key to the Shenandoah Valley is an insightful examination of the many geographical considerations both exerted by and imposed upon a single strategically located town during the American Civil War. More generally, the volume also serves as a useful admonition against neglecting geographical study at the top levels of national civilian and military leadership. It is, of course, superficially obvious that all wars are fundamentally impacted by geography, but, as McCaul reminds us, empires have crumbled and innumerable wars have been lost through lack of sufficient understanding of geographical limitations and through overconfidence in means (technological and otherwise) of overcoming them. Fortunately for its future as a reunited country, in terms of the leadership involved and the established and emerging technologies exploited by its armies and navies, the United States managed geography during the Civil War successfully enough to achieve complete victory.