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Union General is the first biography of Samuel Ryan Curtis, the
most important and most successful general on either side in the
Civil War west of the Mississippi River. Curtis was a West Point
graduate, Mexican War veteran, and determined foe of secession who
gave up his seat in Congress to fight for the Union. At Pea Ridge
in 1862 and Westport in 1864, he marched hundreds of miles across
hostile countryside, routed Confederate armies larger than his own,
and reestablished Federal control over large swathes of rebel
territory. In addition to his remarkable success as a largely
independent field commander, Curtis was one of only a handful of
abolitionist generals in the Union army. He dealt a heavy blow to
slavery in the Trans-Mississippi and Mississippi Valley months
before the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. His
enlightened racial policies and practices generated a storm of
criticism and led to his temporary suspension in the middle of the
conflict face=Calibri>– but he was restored to active duty in
time to win a crushing victory at Westport, where he saved Kansas
and put an end to Price’s Raid. Before the war Curtis was an
accomplished civil engineer, a prime mover of the transcontinental
railroad, and an important figure in the emerging Republican Party
and was elected three times to the House of Representatives from
Iowa. After the war he participated in pioneering efforts in
peacemaking with the Plains Indians and helped oversee construction
of the Union Pacific across Nebraska. This biography restores
Curtis to his rightful place in American history and adds
significantly to our understanding of the Civil War.
The struggle for control of the Mississippi River was the longest
and most complex campaign of the Civil War. It was marked by an
extraordinary diversity of military and naval operations, including
fleet engagements, cavalry raids, amphibious landings, pitched
battles, and the two longest sieges in American history. Every
existing type of naval vessel, from sailing ship to armored ram,
played a role, and military engineers practiced their art on a
scale never before witnessed in modern warfare. Union commanders
such as Grant, Sherman, Farragut, and Porter demonstrated the
skills that would take them to the highest levels of command. When
the immense contest finally reached its climax at Vicksburg and
Port Hudson in the summer of 1863, the Confederacy suffered a blow
from which it never recovered. Here was the true turning point of
the Civil War. This fast-paced, gripping narrative of the Civil War
struggle for the Mississippi River is the first comprehensive
single-volume account to appear in over a century. "Vicksburg Is
the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River" tells the story of
the series of campaigns the Union conducted on land and water to
conquer Vicksburg and of the many efforts by the Confederates to
break the siege of the fortress. William L. Shea and Terrence J.
Winschel present the unfolding drama of the campaign in a clear and
readable style, correct historic myths along the way, and examine
the profound strategic effects of the eventual Union victory.
Most histories of the Civil War focus on battles and top brass.
"Hardtack and Coffee" is one of the few to give a vivid, detailed
picture of what ordinary soldiers endured every day--in camp, on
the march, at the edge of a booming, smoking hell. John D. Billings
of Massachusetts enlisted in the Army of the Potomac and curvived
the conditions he recorded. The authenticity of his book is
heightened by the many drawings that a comrade, Charles W. Reed,
made in the field. This is the story of how the Civil War soldier
was recruited, provisioned, and disciplined. Described here are the
types of men found in any outfit; their not very uniform uniforms;
crowded tents and makeshift shelters; difficulties in keeping
clean, warm, and dry; their pleasure in a cup of coffee; food
rations, dominated by salt pork and the versatile cracker or
hardtack; their brave pastimes in the face of death; punishments
for various offenses; treatment in sick bay; firearms and signals
and modes of transportation. Comprehensive and anecdotal, "
Hardtack and Coffee" is striking for the pulse of life that runs
through it.
William Shea offers a gripping narrative of the events surrounding
Prairie Grove, Arkansas, one of the great unsung battles of the
Civil War that effectively ended Confederate offensive operations
west of the Mississippi River. Shea provides a colorful account of
a grueling campaign that lasted five months and covered hundreds of
miles of rugged Ozark terrain. In a fascinating analysis of the
personal, geographical, and strategic elements that led to the
fateful clash in northwest Arkansas, he describes a campaign
notable for rapid marching, bold movements, hard fighting, and the
most remarkable raid of the Civil War. |Shea offers a gripping
narrative of the events surrounding Prairie Grove, Arkansas, one of
the great unsung battles of the Civil War that effectively ended
Confederate offensive operations west of the Mississippi River.
Shea provides a colorful account of a grueling campaign that lasted
five months and covered hundreds of miles of rugged Ozark terrain.
In a fascinating analysis of the personal, geographical, and
strategic elements that led to the fateful clash in northwest
Arkansas, he describes a campaign notable for rapid marching, bold
movements, hard fighting, and the most remarkable raid of the Civil
War.
Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove were three of the most
important battles fought west of the Mississippi River during the
Civil War. They influenced the course of the first half of the war
in that region by shaping Union military efforts while
significantly contributing to Confederate defeat. "Wilson's Creek,
Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove," the first book to provide a detailed
guide to these battlefields, takes the visitor step-by-step through
the major sites of each engagement. With numerous maps and
illustrations that enhance the authors' descriptions of what
happened at each stop, the book also includes analytical accounts
explaining tactical problems associated with each battle as well as
vignettes evoking for readers the personal experience of those who
fought there. An indispensable companion for the battlefield
visitor, this guide offers not only touring information and driving
tours of sites associated with the campaigns that led to the
battles, but also a brief history of each battle and an overview of
the larger strategy and tactics of the military action in which
these battles figured.
With the goal of sketching "at least some of the bright lights and
dark shadows of the war, " William Baxter authored his regional
classic, Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove, in 1864, before the actual
end of the Civil War. Primarily focusing on the civilians of the
region, Baxter vividly describes their precarious and vulnerable
positions during the advances and retreats of armies as Confederate
and Federal forces marched across their homeland. In his account,
Baxter describes skirmishes and cavalry charges outside his front
door, the "firing" of his town's buildings during a Confederate
retreat, dashes between secessionist and Unionist neighbors, the
feeding of hungry soldiers and the forceful appropriation of his
remaining food supply, and the sickening sight of the wounded
emerging from the Prairie Grove battlefield.
Since its original printing, this firsthand account has only
been reprinted once, in 1957, and both editions are considered
collectors' items today. Of interest to Civil War scholars and
general readers alike, Baxter's compelling social history is
rendered even more comprehensive by William Shea's introduction.
Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove is a valuable personal account of the
Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi West which enables us to better
comprehend the conflict as a whole and its devastating affect on
the general populace of the war-torn portions of the country.
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