History of the Laurel Brigade: Originally the Ashby Cavalry, A

McDonald, William, edited by Washington, Bushrod C.

396 pages; Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. 

Originally the Ashby Cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia and Chew's Battery

First printed in 1907, this volume presents a nearly contemporary view of the lauded Confederate unit. Recruited from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (with many troops volunteering from nearby Maryland), this Confederate cavalry unit fought under General Stonewall Jackson early in the Civil War. Led by one of the grandest cavaliers of them all - General Turner Ashby - until his death in early 1862, the unit eventually formed part of General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry corps, moving back and forth between the tidewater and the Valley as military necessity dictated.