A study of the military operations within the Kanawha Valley during four months, April through July, of 1861 - a time involving the first exposure to warfare by most of the participants involved, a rash of incompetent military officers offset with a few brilliant ones, the first wartime use of artillery in the Kanawha Valley, ragged and poorly trained soldiers waging a war against each other under some of the worst possible geographic and environmental conditions, and the climax of the campaign, the battle at Scary Creek on July 17, 1861, which proved more a comedy of errors than an example of strategic combat. Yet the Kanawha Valley campaign proved a blueprint for most of the remainder of the war: poorly armed and trained Confederate soldiers, outnumbered and led by inexperienced officers, could defeat a larger, well trained Federal army provided they were able to select the best possible position for a defensive action. And when their line of supply became threatened, a retreat was inevitable. -- From the introduction.