Kirby Smith's Confederacy
Kirby Smith's Confederacy

Author: Robert L. Kerby

Publisher: University Alabama Press

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13:

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Offers a case study of a segment of American society that consumed itself by surrendering everything in pursuit of unattainable military victory With the surrender of Vicksburg in July 1863, the Confederacy's TransMississippi Department, which included Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, western Louisiana, and Indian Territory, was cut off from the remainder of the South. Robert Kerby's insightful volume, originally published in 1972, "has gone far toward filling one of the most conspicuous gaps in the literature on the Confederacy," according to The Journal of Southern History. Kerby investigates the many factors that led to the Department's disintegrating and offers a case study of a segment of American society that consumed itself by surrendering everything, including its principles and ideals, in pursuit of an unattainable military victory.

A Crisis in Confederate Command
A Crisis in Confederate Command

Author: Jeffery S. Prushankin

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2005-12-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0807130885

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In A Crisis in Confederate Command, Jeffery S. Prushankin scrutinizes the antagonistic relationship between Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith and his key subordinate, Richard Taylor. Prushankin offers a perspective on the events in the Trans-Mississippi through the eyes of these two high-strung men and analyzes how their clash in personalities and in notions of duty and glory shaped the course of the Civil War. Smith and Taylor, Prushankin explains, disagreed over how to thwart Federal incursions across Louisiana and Arkansas. Smith, a West Point graduate and disciple of Joseph E. Johnston, owed a debt to politicians in Arkansas and Missouri for helping him secure his appointment and so opted for a defensive policy that favored those states. Taylor, a Louisiana political general who had served his apprenticeship under Stonewall Jackson, argued for an offensive strike against the enemy. The friction between the two reached a climax at the Red River campaign in 1864 when Taylor blatantly disobeyed orders from Smith and attacked Federal troops. Prushankin shows that what began as a dispute over strategy degenerated into a battle of egos and a succession of caustic personal attacks that eventually led to Smith's relieving Taylor from command. Despite their discord, Prushankin argues, Smith and Taylor produced one of the Confederacy's greatest military accomplishments in the Red River campaign victory against a Yankee juggernaut. With his insightful portraits of Smith and Taylor, use of previously untapped primary sources, and new interpretations of correspondence from key figures, Prushankin imparts fresh understanding of the psychology of leadership in the Civil War as a whole.

General Edmund Kirby Smith, C.S.A.
General Edmund Kirby Smith, C.S.A.

Author: Joseph Howard Parks

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1992-07-01

Total Pages: 564

ISBN-13: 9780807118009

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“This book is meaty, succinct, well organized, and attractively written. It is a praiseworthy contribution to American biography and to Confederate history.” —Bell I. Wiley Here is the first critical biography of the Confederate general who commanded the largest theater of the Civil War, the Trans-Mississippi Department, and who held the same important command post longer than any other officer on either side. Edmund Kirby Smith, one of only seven full generals commanding Confederate armies in the field, exercised civil as well as Military authority in the isolated Trans-Mississippi area to such an extent that this part of the Confederacy came to be known as “Kirbysmithdom.” A native of St. Augustine, Florida, Kirby Smith was twice breveted for the bravery in the Mexican War. He spent the 1850s at various frontier posts and at the outbreak of the Civil war hurried to Confederate headquarters to offer his services. Soon he was a brigadier with Joseph E. Johnston in northern Virginia, and he is credited with playing a key role in the rout of the Union forces at first Manassas. In the spring of 1863 he assumed command of the vast Trans-Mississippi Department. At the fall of the Confederacy, Kirby Smith was the last general to surrender. He spent the final twenty years of his life as a teacher and died in Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1893, where he had been a professor at the University of the South. At the time of its origin publication in 1954, this book won the first Sydnor Memorial Award, given by the Southern Historical Association for the best book in southern history.

The Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, 1861-1865
The Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, 1861-1865

Author: Jeffery S. Prushankin

Publisher: Government Printing Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13:

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If the Civil War had a "forgotten theater," it was the Trans-Mississippi West. Starting in 1861 with the Lincoln administration's desire to maintain control of the far west, Jeffery Prushankin covers battles in New Mexico, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, including Pea Ridge in March 1862 and Pleasant Hill in April 1864. The Red River Expedition and Price's Raid are also described. The narrative places these campaigns and battles in their strategic context to show how they contributed to the outcome of the war.

Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol. 2
Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol. 2

Author: Lawrence Lee Hewitt

Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published: 2015-05-29

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1621900894

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"Generals in the Trans-Mississippi have received little attention compared to their eastern counterparts, and many remain mere footnotes to Civil War history. This welcome volume features cutting-edge analyses of eight Southern generals in this most neglected theater-Thomas Hindman, Theophilus Holmes, Edmund Kirby Smith, Mosby Monroe Parsons, John Marmaduke, Thomas James Churchill, Thomas Green, and Joseph Orville Shelby-providing an enlightening new perspective on the Confederate high command." From book jacket.

A Burned Land
A Burned Land

Author: Robert R. Laven

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2019-01-17

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1476675589

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Often neglected by historians, actions in Missouri and Kansas had an important influence on the course of the Civil War, with profound effects for the communities and people in the region. Outside of Virginia and Tennessee, Missouri was perhaps the most hotly contested territory during the war. The fighting in Missouri culminated with an expedition that re-wrote the books on tactics and the use of mounted infantry. This book focuses on the experiences of the soldiers, officers and civilians on both sides. The author brings to life the events in the region that contributed to the internecine strife in the Western Theater.