Southern Appalachia region played a significant role in the history of the American Civil War. It turned out to be the wild card in Civil War politics and strategy. When the state was divided into two enemy camps, namely, the Union and the Confederates, this region was considered as an ideal base for military operations against the Confederate forces. But the Confederate mobilization policy was not that successful in Southern Appalachia: many mountain residents were resistant to the conducted policy. But the worst thing about this place was not that the region was turned into the battle area, but that the local residents have sharply divided between the Union sympathizers and the Confederate supporters. Victims: a True Story of the Civil War by Phillip Shaw Paludan is a book that truthfully depicts the time period surrounding the Civil War. Focusing on the events that led up to the Shelton Laurel Massacre, this book throws light on the aspects of the Civil War not so commonly studied. The Victims shows in detail the reality of the guerrilla war that was an integral part of the events of 1861–1865. The course of this war and the way it affected the people who suffered from it presents the main concern for the author of the book. Cruelty is the main feature of any war. The heinous atrocities of the Civil War are depicted by the author by the example of a remote Appalachian town in North Carolina, Shelton Laurel. This town remained important both for the Confederacy and for the Union armies. Because of the town’s location, it was considered a target object for both armies. The violent opposition between the two forces resulted in the Shelton Laurel Massacre – the horrible event shocked the world with its savageness and absence of any human feelings that the killers had towards their victims. The pressures that make people commit violence of this type get the author’s close examination. The main thesis that he makes is about the brutal character of any war and the consequences this brutality has for people. Any war is horrific not only by its unpredictability and the devastating effects but by the power with which it can ruin the human feelings one’s heart is full of. At the beginning of the Civil War, the citizens of Shelton Laurel were affected by it in such a way that they used politics to satisfy their personal vengeance. The newfound power gave the citizens an opportunity to gain personal revenge. The thing is that in the region there were not politically passive people, everyone had to make his or her decision about the support of this or that political power. The citizens were not simply different in their political views but in their material statuses as well. Those who were pro-Confederate were mostly rich farmers with slaves or poor whites who were reluctant to adjust to any social or economic changes. Pro-Unionists were, on the contrary, poor farmers having no slaves. The war was just an opportunity to strengthen the positions of any of the classes; this was just an “opportunity that the war brought to revenge old debts and to loot, plunder, and terrorize” (Paludan 77). The terrorism that became common for the remote town took the form of guerrilla warfare that contributed to the outbreak of the mini c