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1861 to 1865, the border separating eastern Kentucky and southwestern
Virginia was more than just a geographic marker — it
represented a major ideological split, serving as an "international"
boundary between the United States and the Confederacy. The
loyalties of those who lived in this mountainous region could
not be so easily divided, and large segments of the population
remained neutral or vacillated in their support. Location
and a wealth of resources made the region strategically important
to both sides in the conflict, and both armies fought for
control.
In Contested
Borderland, Brian D. McKnight shows how military invasion
of this region led to increasing guerrilla warfare and how
regular armies and state militias ripped communities along
partisan lines, leaving wounds long after the official end
of the Civil War.
"A revealing and richly diverse account of the war in
this too-neglected pocket of the South."
— Daniel E. Sutherland, editor of Guerrillas, Unionists,
and Violence on the Confederate Home Front
Brian D. McKnight is a teaching fellow of
history at the University of Virginia's College at Wise. His
work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including
the Historian, the Smithfield Review, and
Ohio Valley History.
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