Valley of the Shadow: A Novel (63 page)
Read Valley of the Shadow: A Novel Online
Authors: Ralph Peters
On the northern edge of Middletown, near Jubal Early’s limit of advance, there’s a small National Park Service museum tucked into a strip mall. The bare-bones staff is enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and for those of us who fondly recall the “Electric Map” at Gettysburg, there’s a smaller LED-dotted map that gives the visitor a clear, clean overview of a battle that was hardly clean or clear. Most cars simply rush past on the Valley Pike (now widened and smoothly paved). Thanks to history’s fickleness, this great battle has been forgotten by the average American, as have the other battles in this book. For
young
Americans—taught to despise history as useless—even the cartoon version of Custer has faded, while Rutherford B. Hayes and Stephen Dodson Ramseur, Philip Sheridan and Jubal Early, aren’t even names in a schoolbook. I find it heartbreaking.
This book is a call to remember.
RALPH PETERS
is a
New York Times
bestselling author, a retired U.S. Army officer and former enlisted man, a media commentator on strategic issues, and a lifelong student of history. His fiction and nonfiction writing on the American Civil War, under his own name and as Owen Parry, has won numerous literary prizes, including the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award (twice), the Herodotus Award, the Hammett Prize, and the General Meade Society’s Order of Merit. You can sign up for email updates
here
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RALPH PETERS
’ NOVELS PUBLISHED BY FORGE
Cain at Gettysburg
(Boyd Award)
RALPH PETERS
’ CIVIL WAR MYSTERIES PUBLISHED UNDER THE PEN NAME “OWEN PARRY”
Faded Coat of Blue
(Herodotus Award)
Shadows of Glory
Call Each River Jordan
Honor’s Kingdom
(Hammett Prize)
The Bold Sons of Erin
Rebels of Babylon
and
Our Simple Gifts: Civil War Christmas Tales
Ralph Peters
is also the author of numerous books on strategy, as well as additional novels.
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Contents
Map of McCausland’s Attacks, July 9, 1864
Map of Gordon’s Attack, July 9, 1864
Map of Early’s March on Washington
Map of Lower Shenandoah Valley, September 17, 1864
Map of Sheridan’s Early Morning Attack, September 19, 1864
Map of Sheridan’s 11:40 a.m. Attack and Early’s Counterattack, September 19, 1864
Map of Sheridan’s Afternoon Attack and Early’s Retreat, September 19, 1864
Map of Fisher’s Hill, Initial Dispositions, September 20–22, 1864
Map of Fisher’s Hill, September 22, 1864
Map of Positions of Sheridan and Early, October 17, 1864
Map of Cedar Creek, Morning, October 19, 1864
Map of Cedar Creek, Late Afternoon, October 19, 1864
Ralph Peters’ Novels Published by Forge
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
VALLEY
OF
THE
SHADOW
Copyright © 2015 by Ralph Peters
All rights reserved.
Maps by George Skoch
Cover art:
The Battle of Cedar Creek
by Julian Scott (1846–1901); courtesy of the Vermont State House, Montpelier, Vermont
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
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is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-7403-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-3981-6 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466839816
First Edition: May 2015
