From leading Civil War scholars, fresh views of Second Manassas and its significance
Waged from June 26 to September 1, 1862, the Second Manassas campaign pitted the US Armies of Virginia and the Potomac against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and its new commander, Robert E. Lee. The campaign unfolded against a backdrop of momentous US political decisions regarding confiscation, emancipation, and Confederate civilians. These decisions dismayed and energized Confederates, sparking the debut of Lee’s offensive strategy. Weeks of strategic movements were punctuated by savage fighting that culminated in a climactic battle on August 28–30. Second Manassas destroyed the careers of US army commander John Pope and corps commander Fitz John Porter. Despite the dramatic impact of the campaign, it is often forgotten in the larger history of the Civil War, and sorely understudied. The essays in this volume provide valuable attention to strategy, tactics, and logistics; the performances of key commanders on each side; the campaign’s political dimensions; the connections between home front and battlefield; and the memory of the campaign’s aftermath.
Contributors include Keith S. Bohannon, Gary W. Gallagher, John J. Hennessy, Peter C. Luebke, James Marten, William Marvel, and Cecily Zander.
Caroline E. Janney is John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia.
Kathryn J. Shively is associate professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University.
"A welcome new volume that offers a detailed exploration of a crucial moment in American history.”—Library Journal, STARRED review
“This well-chosen and written series of essays brings new light to this often overlooked campaign and shows that this was not a side-show of the Eastern Theater, but a critical battle in its own right."—New York Journal of Books
“A most welcome addition to the historiography of a battle and campaign too long overlooked and understudied. Bringing light to subjects like logistics and emancipation that have largely escaped previous studies about the campaign only shows us how much there is still to learn.”—Emerging Civil War
“It’s a pretty tired reviewing cliche to say that an essay collection offers ‘something for everyone,’ but this volume’s strong addressing of a wide range of subjects, and this series as a whole, really does achieve that type of impact better than most others.”—Civil War Books and Authors
“The Second Manassas Campaign is a good primer on emergent scholarship about a little-understood campaign. . . . [T]his volume will be extremely useful to Civil War military historians.”—North Carolina Historical Review
“Brings together top-notch talent to retell the history of one of the war’s least understood campaigns. It offers new and intriguing insights into the fighting of summer 1862. . . . [A]n array of cutting-edge scholarship and new perspectives.”—Civil War Monitor’s Best Civil War Books of 2025
“The Second Manassas Campaign takes its place on a growing shelf of books about this pivotal operation while making still another salient contribution to a legendary series. It whets the appetite for a forthcoming volume of essays on the first clash behind the steep banks of Bull Run.”—Civil War Monitor
“Janney and Shively have assembled a masterful team of scholars to tackle the complicated tale of Second Manassas. This volume sheds brilliant new light on a neglected campaign, in the process adding to a landmark series and demonstrating just how rich and wide-ranging the scholarship on Civil War military history can be.”—Zachery A. Fry, US Army Command and General Staff College
“This volume delivers fresh perspective on an overlooked Civil War campaign. By considering the political, legal, military, and social implications of all that transpired around Second Manassas, the contributors to this impressive book offer far more than one would expect from a traditional campaign study.”—Andrew Bledsoe, Lee University
