Ewell Opens the Door: The Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg Hardcover – July 13, 2025

With this fourth publication, the second book of Volume II in the Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg series, Kevin Campbell expands his coverage of the campaign by detailing the Second Battle of Winchester. During the fighting in and around the town, the Confederate Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, under Richard S. Ewell, cleared the town and the lower Shenandoah Valley of Federal troops, opening the door to the heartland of Pennsylvania. Campbell details not only the military aspects of the campaign, but the soldiers’ experiences and the plight of the civilians of Winchester during the weeks and days leading up to the fighting. Unfortunately for the citizens, they found themselves embroiled in the events of a war that infested both their lives and town. But, while the civilians and soldiers were major participants in the events which led up to the battle at Winchester, the result of the encounter between the Federals there and Ewell’s corps, was mostly shaped by one man, Robert Huston Milroy. No other fight during the war was influenced more by the will of a single individual than Milroy at Winchester. In fact, without Milroy it is likely that there may never have been a fight there during the summer of 1863. President Lincoln’s general in chief, Henry W. Halleck, had no desire to station a large force at Winchester. In addition to describing the fighting, Campbell provides significant insight into the personality and character of Milroy. Aided by the ineptness of Eighth Corps commander Major General Robert C. Schenk, Milroy managed to ignore or talk his way out of his Second Division being withdrawn. The author documents Milroy’s several personality traits that kept him from seeing the larger picture and understanding the exposed nature of his position. Milroy believed right down to his very soul that he was destined for great things and developed a strong loathing for anyone who he felt was hampering his ability to garner that fame. He did not cling to his position at Winchester because he received orders for that purpose. He kept his command there because he was determined to keep it near the town. Milroy was an educated man with military experience but his moral compass and his belief that he was to achieve great things would not allow him to rationally acknowledge his position. He would never achieve the military fame he felt he was destined to realize. During his career, and his life for that matter, he would become a victim of his own flaws. He was unable to look inward and acknowledge those frailties. The simple fact is that Milroy remained in Winchester because that’s where his personality required him to be. His decision placed him in a position to have all his hopes and desires crushed by Ewell’s Corps during the opening moves of the Gettysburg Campaign. Read more