Booknotes: The Civil War in Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks

New Arrival:

• The Civil War in Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks by Matthew Ericson (Arcadia Pub & The Hist Press, 2026).

Over their prolific (and, for the latter, ongoing) runs, The History Press's Civil War Sesquicentennial Series and Civil War Series published a number of titles covering various military events in southeastern Virginia and coastal North Carolina during 1861-62. Matthew Ericson's The Civil War in Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks brings much of that material together into a single integrated overview that incorporates early-war Union land and sea operations that secured Fort Monroe and surrounding areas, seized key towns and forts along North Carolina's Outer Banks and coastal plain, and finally forced the Confederate abandonment of Norfolk.

All of these Union victories achieved during the first twelve months of the war held significant strategic value, both in the short term and the long term. From Fort Monroe, "Union forces launched bold campaigns that would define the early course of the war. Their presence threatened Confederate supply lines and opened the way to North Carolina’s vulnerable shoreline. Across both regions, two vital canals linked the Confederate heartland to the coast, transforming Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks into a single, high-stakes theater of war." Ericson "unites these interconnected battles into one compelling narrative."

As is the case with all studies of this type from this publisher, photographs, illustrations, and maps abound.