"Sometimes I wish I could sleep until it was over -- a selfish wish enough; but it is hard to witness so much sorrow which you cannot alleviate."

-- Judith Brockenbrough McGuire, "Diary of a Southern Refugee during the War, June 1863 - July 1864"

McGuire likely spoke for many Virginians as the American Civil War came to dominate every aspect of the Old Dominion during 1864. Her diary entries close this enlightening examination of the effects of total war on a society.

In 1864, the war came home to Virginia. It was a year that saw battles every day in May and most of June. Every day, Virginians from all walks of life were exposed to warfare, and that exposure would last until April 1865 when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.

Unlike their fellow Confederates in Georgia and the Carolinas, Virginians were no longer insulated from the realities of battle. Of course, Gen. William Sherman helped our Southern neighbors feel the pain.

The war touched politics, newspapers, transportation and education. It also created a large number of refugees, such as McGuire, whose homes were occupied or destroyed by Union forces.

William Davis and James Robertson have assembled essays by respected Civil War historians to explain the results of total warfare on civilians and civil institutions.

Newspapers struggled with the desire to prop up patriotism and morale in the face of the Confederate defeats that characterized the post-Gettysburg campaigns. They also struggled to walk a fine line: supporting the Confederate States of America while questioning the leadership of President Jefferson Davis.

There was an attempt to suppress political parties. Citizens were expected to vote for "the right man." The political labels of Democrat and Whig seemed to disappear.

Train travel was disrupted as the home forces used the rails to transport troops and materiel -- until the Union forces began destroying railway tracks and bridges.

In retaliation for its role in the Confederate victory at the Battle of New Market, Union troops destroyed the Virginia Military Institute. VMI was also a target because it kept graduating young men who served as officers in the Confederate armies. VMI moved to Richmond for the duration.

The most poignant and most revealing entry is McGuire's diary. Three of my great-great-grandfathers were involved in the war -- two soldiers and one politician -- and I always wondered how their families coped during their prolonged absences. Now I have some idea of what was happening on the home front throughout Virginia, even in Greenbrier County.