- Land operations in Virginia in 1865: time catches up with Lee at last / Chris Calkins
- "Uncertainties and alarms": women and families on Virginia's home front / Ginette Aley
- "The question of bread is a very serious one": Virginia's wartime economy / Jaime Amanda Martinez
- "Better to be merry than sad": music and entertainment in wartime Virginia / E. Lawrence Abel
- To Danville: a government on wheels / F. Lawrence McFall Jr
- "When Johnny comes marching home": the demobilization of Lee's army / Kevin Levin
- "Traitors shall not dictate to us": Afro-Virginians and the unfinished emancipation of 1865 / Ervin L. Jordan Jr
- "So unsettled by the war": the aftermath in Virginia, 1865 / John M. McClure
- Diary of a southern refugee during the war, August 1864-May 1865 / Judith Brockenbrough McGuire.
By January 1865, most of Virginia's schools were closed, many newspapers had ceased publication, businesses suffered, and food was scarce. Having endured major defeats on their home soil and the loss of most of the state's territory to the Union army, Virginia's Confederate soldiers began to desert at higher rates than at any other time in the war, returning home to provide their families with whatever assistance they could muster. It was a dark year for Virginia. Virginia at War, 1865 closely examines the end of the Civil War in the Old Dominion, delivering a striking description of a state ravaged by violence and destruction. In this final volume of the Virginia at War series, editors William C. Davis and James I. Robertson Jr. have once again assembled an impressive collection of essays covering topics that include land operations, women and families, wartime economy, music and entertainment, the demobilization of Lee's army, and the war's aftermath. The volume ends with the final installment of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire's popular and important Diary of a Southern Refugee during the War. Like the previous four volumes in the series, Virginia at War, 1865 provides invaluable insight into the effects of the war in Virginia, illuminating its devastating repercussions on the lives of citizens across the state. William C. Davis, professor of history and director of programs at Virginia Tech's Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, is the author of Lincoln's Men: How President Lincoln Became a Father to an Army and a Nation. He lives in Blacksburg, Virginia. James I. Robertson Jr., Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at Virginia Tech and director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, is the author of Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend. He lives in Blacksburg, Virginia.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)