Booknotes: So Badly Routed

New Arrival:

• So Badly Routed: The Battle of Fisher’s Hill in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, September 22-24, 1864 by Larry W. Allamong, Mike K. Kehoe, Richard B. Kleese, Nicholas G. Racey, and William L. Stover, Jr. (Savas Beatie, 2026).

After suffering yet another heavy defeat in the Shenandoah, this time on September 19, 1864 at the Third Battle of Winchester, Jubal Early's small Confederate army fell back through Strasburg and occupied the high ground south of the town at Fisher's Hill. Even though the elevated position there was the Valley's supposed "Gibraltar," Early's depleted forces couldn't hold off the continued onslaught of Phil Sheridan's Union Army of the Shenandoah. Massively outnumbered and struck in both front and flank, Early's forces were routed again and retreated to Waynesboro. Though there were still clashes to come, the result of the battle meant that any real Confederate threat in the Valley was essentially removed for the rest of the war.

Larry Allamong, Mike Kehoe, Richard Kleese, Nicholas Racey, and William Stover's So Badly Routed: The Battle of Fisher’s Hill in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, September 22-24, 1864 offers readers the first full account of the battle. In it, the authors "draw on extensive firsthand archival research to explore the military operations from the days following the Third Battle of Winchester through Sheridan’s attack at Fisher’s Hill." The volume represents "a complete treatment of the decisive battle and related military actions in Warren and Page counties, and of the Mosby Affair at Front Royal."

The text is supported by 25 maps. There are even some sprawling two-page maps, and the amount of small-unit detail overall is impressive.

With the main narrative ending on page 153, the large appendix section is a major component of the study. It includes detailed (and annotated) orders of battle for both sides; information on the six medals of honor awarded to participants in the battle; extensive Fisher's Hill casualty lists for both sides; more casualty rosters for the September 20-24 fighting at Front Royal, Gooney Run, Overall, Oak Hill, and Luray; a discussion of the road network at Fisher's Hill; and, finally, a driving tour of the Fisher's Hill battlefield accompanied by a pair of maps.