Please join us for a Chambersburg Civil War Seminars & Tours Lecture Series! Our next lecture will be: Stonewall Jackson's Fog of War During the Heart of the Valley Campaign by Gary Ecelbarger. Cost is $6 per person. Zoom Login details will be sent with your email registration confirmation.

Synopsis

Between May 23 and May 25, 1862, Stonewall Jackson's Valley army routed Nathaniel Banks's Army of the Shenandoah from Front Royal, Middleburg and Winchester, freeing the Virginia populace from Union control and inducing Abraham Lincoln to alter grand strategy in the Virginia theater. For nearly 150 years afterwards the decisions and actions that produced this Confederate triumph have been cloaked in romanticized lore, hiding a much more interesting and revealing history. Gary Ecelbarger has torn away those shrouds and will present this fresh and fascinating story lurking behind it.

Biography

Gary Ecelbarger is a leading authority of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. He has conducted professional tours within this famous corridor for 25 years, has written 15 articles, essays, and monographs about Valley personalities,battles, and events, and has been involved with preservation and interpretation of this campaign since the 1990s. Among the nine books to his credit, three are dedicated to this 1862 campaign, including Three Days in the Shenandoah: Stonewall Jackson at Front Royal and Winchester (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008). His future works will include a book dedicated to the final three weeks of this campaign.