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Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign (Civil War America) ReviewThe author takes on a difficult project -- that in telling the story of the Arkansas/Missouri conflict in the later part of 1862 culminating in the Battle of Prairie Grove. The difficulty stems from the paucity of writings and sources on the Confederate side, but the author does a masterful job in recreating what most likely took place.
For those readers unfamiliar with the Civil War in Missouri and Arkansas (other than along the Mississippi River), the initial campaign was by the Union General Nathaniel Lyon that ended disastrously at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861 (skipping over the actions by Missouri home guards and militia). The Federals regrouped and General Curtis led another expedition into Southwest Missouri and Northwestern Arkansas, defeating the Confederates at Pea Ridge on March 8, 1862. The Confederates then dispersed, with Van Dorn taking the bulk of the troops to Mississippi. At this point, the fortunes of the Confederates were at a very low ebb in the West, Missouri was lost, and the entire state of Arkansas was in danger of being occupied by Federal troops. That is where this book takes up its narrative.
General Hindman was sent to Little Rock to form an army, drive the Federals from Arkansas, and lead a campaign into Missouri. Unfortunately, Hindman was only one man, and he was not given any troops, supplies and support. Nonetheless, he re-energized the Confederates in Arkansas (many of those in Northern Arkansas were Unionists), and rapidly built an army out of almost nothing to hold an East-West line along the Arkansas River. The author puts Hindman in a rather favorable light, but is brutally honest with Hindman's superior, General Holmes. Hindman was faced with almost insurmountable difficulties, but managed to place a force in the field on the northern edge of the Boston Mountains to confront the Federals who could move south from Springfield, Missouri.
The author then presents the Union personnel rather thoroughly, introducing the readers to Generals Curtis, Schofield, Blunt, Totten and Herron. The Union "Frontier Army" had difficulties of its own, most notably in operating so far away from its supply bases in Missouri and the terrain difficulties presented by Northwestern Arkansas.
After several skirmishes and endless marching back and forth, Blunt took up a rather isolated position at Cane Hill, Arkansas, where Hindman determined that Blunt's Division invited a surprise attack. Accordingly, Hindman crossed the Boston Mountains, and prepared to attack Blunt when he received word that Herron's Division was rapidly moving south from Fayetteville to rescue Blunt. Hindman then changed his plan and decided to move due north to attack Herron along his route of march, then turn southwest and destroy Blunt. The point where he debouched to intercept Herron was at Prairie Grove.
The actually battle on December 7, 1862 was mishandled on both sides, and after suffering heavy casualties neither side was able to gain an advantage. However, the Confederates were nearly out of ammunition and extremely short of supplies, so Hindman had no choice but to withdraw back across the Boston Mountains to the Arkansas River. The battle therefore became a strategic Federal victory. Hindman eventually returned to Little Rock and was transferred to Bragg's Army, and the Federals eventually captured Little Rock. This ends the book's narrative, although Sterling Price later led another expedition into Missouri that ended in failure, and the Confederates were able to repulse Union General Steele in his attempt to move south from Little Rock and attack Shreveport, Louisiana in 1864. Nonetheless, Prairie Grove turned out to be the decisive battle that cost the Confederacy Missouri and Northern and Western Arkansas.
The author does a masterful job in depicting the battle and its unit actions, regiment by regiment, and artillery battery by battery. There was a great deal of heroism on both sides, and in many respects the battle was the classic and representative Civil War battle. The troops overcame great adversity to fight effectively, and although the Confederates withdrew, both sides felt they had won the battle as a tactical contest.
This is a scholarly work that is necessarily light on Confederate accounts since so few of the Confederate participants wrote reports or accounts (that survived) dealing with the campaign and battle. The author does the best he can to present the actions from both sides, and fully deserves his five stars. Approximately 8,000 Federal troops took part and they suffered sixteen percent casualties, the Confederates had about 11,500 men of which thirteen percent became casualties. The Federals were fairly well supplied, but the Confederates fought this campaign on a shoestring with not enough rifles to equip the entire army, no tents and few blankets to face the cold weather, and with many of the soldiers barefoot, hatless, and poorly dressed. Food was extremely scarce, and many of the Confederate soldiers fought the battle without having eaten anything for the previous two days.
In many respects this is a specialist's book as the Civil War west of the Mississippi generally receives little attention. The case can be made that had the Federals done nothing but defend Missouri, the outcome of the war would have been the same. But to the men of Missouri and Arkansas on both sides, and those of Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Texas and the Indian Home Guards, this fight was vicious and personal. Union artillery was vastly superior to that of the Confederates, and that arm eventually saved the Union army from a serious defeat.
I highly recommend this book to everyone interested in the Civil War. It offers an excellent perspective of war in the West as contrasted to the large scale actions in the other theaters.
Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign (Civil War America) OverviewOn Sunday, December 7, 1862, two armies collided at an obscure Arkansas hamlet named Prairie Grove in a desperate battle that effectively ended Confederate offensive operations west of the Mississippi River. In Fields of Blood, historian William L. Shea offers a gripping narrative of the events surrounding Prairie Grove, one of the great unsung battles of the Civil War.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. After months of intricate maneuvering punctuated by five battles in three states, armies led by Thomas C. Hindman and James G. Blunt met one last time at Prairie Grove. The costly daylong struggle was a tactical draw but a key strategic victory for the Union, as the Confederates never again seriously attempted to recover Missouri or threaten Kansas. Historians have long ignored the complex campaign that ended in such spectacular fashion at Prairie Grove, but it is at last brought to life in these pages.
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