Destruction and Reconstruction‪:‬

It is worth noting that Taylor son of U.S. president Zachary Taylor opposed secession. He provides an account of his efforts at the 1860 Democratic Party convention to prevent the split that resulted in Lincoln's election. He remarks bitterly about the lighthearted disregard for the potential consequences of war a sentiment that was widespread in the South before Sumter. His accounts of Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign and the 1864 Red River campaign are must reads for any serious student of the war.