For those of you interested in West Virginia history, the McClintic and Hillsboro libraries just acquired a few new books dealing with our state’s past. Two of them focus on the Civil War, and how that conflict impacted the people living in an area destined to become a new state.
“West Virginia and the Civil War” by Mark A. Snell examines the impact of the war on the new state of West Virginia, and especially focuses on the people here. Dr. Snell is the director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War, and a professor of history at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown. As a retired Army officer and a former assistant professor at West Point, Dr. Snell has a fine, authoritative grasp on military history, especially during the Civil War. Pocahontas County is mentioned several times throughout Dr. Snell’s narrative.
“West Virginia in the Civil War” by Richard A. Wolfe also examines the war and chronicles the role of West Virginians through the use of vintage photographs. This volume contains many portraits, photos of towns and locations pertinent to the war, and also contains maps of various battles that took place in West Virginia. The final chapter deals with veteran reunions and memorials throughout the state from 1867 through 2013. Many memorials were erected to both the Union and Confederate soldiers who served in the war, and now no longer exist, so this volume is a valuable resource. Wolfe grew up in Morgantown, and is the president of the Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation in addition to being a member of the W. Va. Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission.
I love vintage photographs, and so when I ran across the book “Historic Photos of West Virginia” by Gerald D. Swick, I couldn’t pass it by. This volume covers our state’s history in photographs from 1859 through 1979. Surprisingly enough, Pocahontas County is represented in several interesting pictures. There is a nice vintage photo of the NRAO; the Green Bank Consolidated School, the Colored School at Pleasant Green, Sunset School, a one-room school in Pocahontas County, and a picture of several children walking to the Buckeye Grade School in 1921; Pearl S. Buck’s home, and of course, the trains at Cass. It also contains fascinating photos from other parts of the state, all of which are reproduced on glossy pages in black and white.
Come check out a trip down memory lane—all our branches have very nice collections on local and West Virginia history.