Nathan Bedford Forrest has to be considered one of the most remarkable men of the War Between the States. Although completely untutored in the art and science of war, his aggressive use of rapid movement and concentration of force during his raids have become legendary. The campaigns he led into Union occupied territory anticipated the mobile operations that have become the hallmark of modern land warfare. He achieved these feats of arms through his use of horse soldiers as mounted infantry, thus combining the mobility of cavalry with the hitting power of the foot soldier. This amalgamation of force and rapidity of movement was the key to his great victory on the 10th of June, 1864 at the Battle of Brice's Cross-Roads. This action in north-east Mississippi, also known as Tishomingo Creek by Southerners and Guntown by Yankees, resulted in Forrest's defeating in detail an 8,500 man Union column of cavalry, infantry and artillery, in effect destroyed a force nearly twice the size of his own command. In the following pages is found the testimony of the men who were there, those who fought, and survived that hot day in Mississippi. These are the words, thoughts and stories of the victors and the vanquished, attesting to their pride in triumph, along with excuses and recriminations from the defeated. As editor, I have recorded their testimonies without any alteration and only inserted a few footnotes to clarify some of the more obscure references made by the writers.

"NEEDOM FREEMAN, in the United States regular army during the years 1898-1900, was born in the quiet little country village of Barrettsville, Dawson County, Ga., on the 25th of September, 1874. Many things have been said and written of army life during the Spanish-American war, but usually from the officers' point of view. As a matter of fact the ideas of a private if spoken or written are unbelieved simply because the prestige of office was not attached, and receives but little credit." Thus begins this short memoir of the experiences of one soldier at war. The Spanish-American War had been called the "Splendid Little War" as the United States, in three months, defeated the Spanish Empire in what could legitimately be called the Yellow Journalist War, due to the shameless war mongering on the part of the newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Although the conflict with Spain ended after a quarter of a year in 1898, the United States found itself bogged down in a war of occupation in the Philippines after annexing the archipelago instead of recognizing its independence, as the Filipino people, who had been fighting for their freedom from Spain, had expected. This treachery on the part of the US government sparked a bloody conflict that lasted from 1899 to 1902 and claimed the lives of more than 4,000 American soldiers, about 15,000 Filipino soldiers and at least 200,000 Filipino civilians. In "A Soldier in the Philippines" we can see the beginning of the American Empire through the eyes of a private soldier with no axe to grind and no career to advance.

Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, the highest scoring fighter pilot of the First World War, became an almost legendary figure after his death in action at the age of twenty-five. Although heavily edited before its release by the Imperial German government, this autobiography, begun by Richthofen while convalescing in the hospital after he suffered a severe head wound in July, 1917, is an interesting look into the mind of the man known to history as "The Red Baron." This English translation, first published in 1918, has the original preface and footnotes by C.G. Grey, which reflect the wartime animosity felt by the Allies toward their German enemy. Additional footnotes, an Appendix of Wartime photographs and an Index are also included in this new edition for 2013.

During the first year of the War Between the States, Arkansas had been on the sidelines as the main actions had taken place in Virginia, Missouri and Kentucky. This was to change as the Federals gained control of Missouri and set their eyes on control of the lower Mississippi River toward the close of 1861. In these selections from period newspapers are both Confederate and Yankee Reports on the Invasion of Arkansas by the Union Army of the South-West under General Samuel R. Curtis in early 1862. Reports on the battle of Elkhorn Tavern, the occupation of parts of northern Arkansas and the attempts to take Little Rock by the Yankee army, the resistance to the invaders by the people of the State, and Curtis retreat to Helena as his army nearly starves, are here seen through the eyes of witnesses to the events. But, we have to be careful when using these reports, as demonstrated by this article from the July 11th, 1862 edition of the Richmond, Va. Daily Dispatch, sometimes the reports and editorials that purport to be reprints from newspapers published by the opposing side may not be all they seem: Yankee Trick. A soldier from Georgia picked up on the battlefield, a Yankee "Richmond Dispatch," which had been dropped by some dead Yankee. We have not yet seen it, but persons who have, say it is a cari(?)elry. It is exactly like this paper. The size, paper, advertisements and all are precisely the same. The only difference is in the editorials. The Yankee concern is full of desponding and despairing editorials, which pronounce our cause desperate and say that McClellan is obliged to take the city. These counterfeits are no doubt sent North, and used in keeping up the popular delusion there. --Possibly, other Southern papers may be counterfeited too. Was there ever a nation so thoroughly base? Newspaper reports are not the best of primary sources. Egos, partisanship and hatred can colour the stories, but a true sense of the events as they happened can be gained from these narratives.

Fellow Confederate Survivors: In accepting your invitation to address you on the general history of the Confederate Powder Works, I do so with some hesitation, on account of my close personal connection with a subject which absorbed my thought, time and energies. In the history of a war we find, generally, but little reference to the manufactories engaged in the preparation of material; they had been previously established, and were in active operation before its commencement, their products being immediately available for active operations. An instance can scarcely be found in modern warfare where previous preparations had not been made, and where the necessary manufacturing works did not already exist.

The Battle of Elkhorn tavern has been called the "Battle that saved Missouri for the Union," I prefer to know it as the "Battle that doomed Missouri to the Union." In these pages I have culled the reports made by the Confederate commanders that were collected by the U.S. War Department from the records captured after the fall of Richmond in 1865. These records were published in the massive 128 volume The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. These reports are excerpted from Series 1, Volume VIII, pages 281-330. A map and list of units composing General Van Dorn's Trans-Mississippi Army and enumeration of losses from Volume 1 of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War have also been attached. I have also added short biographical footnotes of some of the lesser known commanders, as well as photographs of many of the writers. These first hand accounts, most written within a few weeks of the Battle, offer a first hand look at not only the actions of the participants on the days of the Battle, but also at their after action thoughts on the Battle, and sometimes their own justifications and excuses for decisions made in the literal heat of combat.

During the first year of the War Between the States, Arkansas had been on the sidelines as the main actions had taken place in Virginia, Missouri and Kentucky. This was to change as the Federals gained control of Missouri and set their eyes on control of the lower Mississippi River toward the close of 1861. In these selections from period newspapers are both Confederate and Yankee Reports on the Invasion of Arkansas by the Union Army of the South-West under General Samuel R. Curtis in early 1862. Reports on the battle of Elkhorn Tavern, the occupation of parts of northern Arkansas and the attempts to take Little Rock by the Yankee army, the resistance to the invaders by the people of the State, and Curtis retreat to Helena as his army nearly starves, are here seen through the eyes of witnesses to the events. But, we have to be careful when using these reports, as demonstrated by this article from the July 11th, 1862 edition of the Richmond, Va. Daily Dispatch, sometimes the reports and editorials that purport to be reprints from newspapers published by the opposing side may not be all they seem: Yankee Trick. A soldier from Georgia picked up on the battlefield, a Yankee "Richmond Dispatch," which had been dropped by some dead Yankee. We have not yet seen it, but persons who have, say it is a cari(?)elry. It is exactly like this paper. The size, paper, advertisements and all are precisely the same. The only difference is in the editorials. The Yankee concern is full of desponding and despairing editorials, which pronounce our cause desperate and say that McClellan is obliged to take the city. These counterfeits are no doubt sent North, and used in keeping up the popular delusion there. --Possibly, other Southern papers may be counterfeited too. Was there ever a nation so thoroughly base? Newspaper reports are not the best of primary sources. Egos, partisanship and hatred can colour the stories, but a true sense of the events as they happened can be gained from these narratives.