Rebels at the Gate is the dramatic story of the first Union victories of the Civil War and the events that caused Virginians to divide their state. In a defiant act to sustain President Lincoln's war effort, Virginia Unionists created their own state government in 1861-destined to become the new state of West Virginia.From BooklistIn 1861 Union and Confederate troops waged the first campaign of the Civil War in the rugged mountains of Virginia. General George McClellan led the Northern troops to victory over General Robert E. Lee's Southern army. Lesser writes that while the armies clashed, Virginia Unionists waged a political fight, creating a loyal state government to oppose the Confederate one in Richmond, the state of West Virginia. Lesser uncovered manuscripts, diaries, and letters from soldiers and civilians to relate the story of the first Union victories and the events that caused Virginians to divide the state. This detailed account of the Civil War's beginnings re-creates the sights and sounds, the feelings and passions of the battlefield. George CohenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedFrom the Back Cover?The Early Battles That Split a State and Changed a Nation?At the dawn of the Civil War, two men took up the reins of the Confederate and Union armies and led their troops into the war’s first campaign. Those men were Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan, and their victories and failures on the mountaintops of Virginia during those early battles would split a state and set the stage for America’s bloodiest war.Praise for Rebels at the Gate?“Lesser uncovered manuscripts, diaries and letters from soldiers and civilians to relate the story of the first Union victories and the events that caused Virginians to divide the state. This detailed account of the Civil War’s beginnings re-creates the sights and sounds, the feelings and passions of the battlefield.”-Booklist “People tend to forget that the first land campaign of the Civil War was fought in Virginia, but in what is today West Virginia, a region that both sides thought to be of vital importance in 1861, as indeed it was. W. Hunter Lesser’s Rebels at the Gate is the first study of this campaign in generations, and surely the finest to date, thoroughly researched, thoughtfully presented and riddled with the future great lights of the war-Robert E. Lee, George B. McClellan, William Rosecrans and more. Only the Civil War could have produced battles at places with names like Traveller’s Repose, and perhaps only a West Virginian like Hunter Lesser could have produced this fine study.”-William C. Davis, author and two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee “Hunter Lesser has fashioned what will now be the standard work on the military and political struggle for western Virginia in the Civil War.”