Avenues of Invasion: The Shenandoah Valley and the Road to Anitietam, Gettysburg, and Washington

I will be giving a talk based on research I am doing for my upcoming book The Complete Maryland Campaign Guide in which I reveal little-known routes of McClellan from when he steps off the boat Alexandria on August 1862 until he is fired in Virginia in November of that year. I will also follow Lee from after the Battle of Chantilly until he arrives in Winchester after Antietam.

From their site:

During the Civil War, the Confederacy used the Shenandoah Valley as a highway into the soft underbelly of the North. From Stonewall Jackson’s early threats, to Robert E. Lee’s major invasions that were turned back at Antietam and Gettysburg, and Jubal Early’s advance to the gates of Washington, southerners used the Valley’s corridor – and the protection of the mountain ridges – to strike north in bold bids to change the military and political balance of the war.

From April 25-28, 2018, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation will look back at those dramatic events and the colorful personalities who took part with its National Conference, “Avenue of Invasion.” Headquartered at the Holiday Inn Martinsburg, the conference will include tours, talks, and special events featuring the finest historians in the nation.

Guides and speakers will include Brian Baracz, Ed Bearss, Gary Ecelbarger, Dennis Frye, Troy Harman, John Hoptak, Marc Leepson, Scott Mingus, Craig Morin, Jonathan A. Noyalas, Scott Patchan, Stephen Recker, and Jeffry D. Wert.