Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West
The 1862 battle of Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas was one of the largest Civil War engagements fought on the western frontier, and it dramatically altered the balance of power in the Trans-Mississippi. This study of the battle is based on research in archives from Connecticut to California and includes a pioneering study of the terrain of the sprawling battlefield
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All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell
Union General Frederick Steele led 8,500 soldiers out of comfortable quarters in Little Rock and into the pine and scrub woodlands of southwest Arkansas. Steele's intended target was Shreveport, Louisiana. He planned to join another Union force coming from Fort Smith, bringing his projected complement to 12,500 troops |
The Camden Expedition of 1864 and the Opportunity Lost by the Confederacy to Change the Civil War
The Confederacy had a great opportunity to turn the Civil War in its favor in 1864, but squandered this chance when it failed to finish off a Union army cornered in Louisiana because of concerns about another Union army coming south from Arkansas. The Confederates were so confused that they could not agree on a course of action to contend with both threats, thus the Union offensive advancing from Arkansas saved the one in Louisiana and became known to history as the Camden Expedition. |
Red River Campaign of 1864 and the Loss by the Confederacy of the Civil War
The Union Army's Red River Campaign began on March 12, 1864, with a two-pronged attack aimed at gaining control of Shreveport, Louisiana. The Union's main effort came up from Berwick's Bay via the Red River, while a supporting force moved south from Little Rock, Arkansas. It lasted until May 22, 1864, when, after suffering significant casualties, the Union army retreated back to Simmesport, Louisiana. |
Red River Campaign: Politics and Cotton in the Civil War
Fought on the Red River throughout Central and Northwestern Louisiana, this campaign is a study in how partisan politics, economic need and personal profit determined military policy and operations in Louisiana and Arkansas during the spring of 1864. |
Civil War Arkansas: Beyond Battles and Leaders
Written and first published in 1866 soon after the author's discharge from the Union army, A.F. Sperry's History of the 33rd Iowa Infantry is one of the classic regimental histories of the American Civil War. It is a detailed account of the regiment's movements and actions |
A Stranger And a Sojourner: Peter Caulder, Free Black Frontiersman in Antebellum Arkansas
An illiterate free black man, defied all generalizations about race as he served with distinction as a marksman in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812, repeatedly crossed the color line, and became an Arkansas yeoman farmer, thriving and respected by white neighbors until he fell victim of new discriminatory legislation on the eve of the Civil War |
Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove: A Battlefield Guide, with a Section on Wire Road
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. A history of each battle and an overview of the larger strategy and tactics of the military action in which these battles figured. |
