Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West

Pea Ridge is a rewarding book for both newcomers to Civil War reading, and Buffs, as well as researchers with a view toward writing about the last cavaliers' war on this continent. I say that from the perspective of one who was born long ago, knew some of the vets of the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War equivalent of the American Legion) who had experienced such "close contact" battles, and at age ten listened to their voices describe it all, which I can still hear. Some of them, older at that time than I am now, recalled war recollections they heard as boys, told by Revolutionary War vets who could remember what Washington looked and sounded like. So it all wasn't that long ago. When I was a boy we were closer to the American Revolution than the nuclear age. Outhouses and kerosene lamps were accepted as normal, even in parts of small towns, and everyone owned and shot guns for hunting and the simple sport of shooting well. Why is this book different? It's authors are the new breed who are now using the rich resources of regimental and company histories, and personal memoirs and letters by men who lived what they wrote about. Rather than hearing grandiose broad terms such as "Custer swept around the right flank . . . " we hear of how individuals and small organizations traded volleys at close range in heavy timber and brush, visibility so short that they ran into each others by accident and had to shoot at flashes of guns since they couldn't see men in the heavy smoke from black powder. I was raised on Civil War fare like Charles Carlton Coffin's account of the Seven Days around Richmond, written so intimately and graphically because he himself, although a noncombatant, had seen it through the smoke. But like the familiar Battles and Leaders series, it was mostly about leaders, and brigades were the smallest units mentioned, and usually divisions and corps. I knew who Bull Sumner and the other corps commanders of the Army of the Potomac were by the time I was ten. This is different and about time. The leaders at Pea Ridge are worthy of meeting, and the experience, due to their eccentricities and careers, would be rewarding without a full account of how they fought. You can read capsulated biographies in Boatner's indispensable Civil War Dictionary. This battle was a part of the Anaconda Plan conceived by aged General Scott, an American Icon and still Commanding General of the Army when the Civil War started. He envisioned using the naval superiority of the north and water transport on the western rivers to move armies that would strangle the South with coordinated campaigns, landing on the coasts and making inland incursions, complemented by coordinated movements down the Mississippi and along its tributaries. It was actually the strategy that finally was employed to win the war for the North, but ridiculed by the newspapers at first as visionary, and also by Gen. McClellan even as he adopted it. Mac was a rare study that

The Trans-Missisippi and Western theaters of the Civil War have until now received short shrift. Shea and Hess have thrown a contender in the ring to offset that balance. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its narrative style, attention to detail without bogging down, the descriptions of primary characters in the campaign and for illuminating the dynamic forces and decisions that shaped the battle. Very readable. Their research and accuracy lays the foundation for a complete treatment of the Pea Ridge clash and brings it out of obscurity. If you're interested in Generals Curtis or Van Dorn or interested in Arkansas and Missouri Civil War history, then you will not be disappointed with this gem.

I brought this book at Pea Ridge National Battlefield and read while I was at the park and immediately afterward. I found the book to be superbly written, insightful and well researched. Its also a pretty entertaining book. While packed with information about the battle, the book never weighted you down and the authors keep the pace going until the very end. I enjoyed reading the book while sitting at the actual location which gave me some very insightful understanding of how the battle went. This book will probably stand the test of time as a standard book for this battle for the current generation and maybe beyond.

Almost from the end of the war, most of the books and articles about various battles and leaders of the civil war tended to focus on Virginia. The western theater got nowhere near the attention it deserved and the Trans-Mississippi has been almost completely ignored. Fortunately, William Shea and Earl Hess have decided to end all of that and have given us a wonderful book about the campaigns that cumulated in the Battle of Pea Ridge. Remarkable characters with which many readers will not be familiar like Van Dorn, Curtis, Price and Pike will begin to come into focus and will not be easily forgotten.The authors do an excellent job also of telling the stories of the common soldiers. They had to have dug through mountains of newspapers and journals to come up with all of this information but the results are well worth their efforts. Quote after quote tells the reader of the miserable conditions, the incessant marching, the hunger, and the fear. A large number of maps and portraits are a great help as the reader tries to picture what is going on. Many authors of this kind of detailed study of a battle end up giving the reader headaches with minute details about troop movements, but Shea and Hess manage to get the information across without becoming dull at all. The portrait painted of this campaign is quite clear. Untimely deaths of commanders on the battlefield played a large part in the Confederate defeat, but mostly it was their inept General. With the exception of General Sigel, the Union commanders seem to have been an excellent group of officers who led brave men and led them well. Often overlooked is the bravery and fortitude of the common soldiers of both sides. These authors do not make that mistake. Shea and Hess do call it like they see it though and Freemasons beware, Albert Pike is not well treated. The authors conclude with a look at the battle of Pea Ridge from a larger perspective. Many tactics used during this odd winter campaign would later become common practice for Union armies. Generals Grant and Sherman would take a large page from Curtis' play book when they in campaigns to come cut their supply lines and lived off of the land. As the authors point out, General Curtis does not get the credit he deserves for what he did at Pea Ridge. Things in Tennessee might have turned out very differently if the Federals had lost on that little ridge in Arkansas. To really understand the entire civil war, one must grasp what was going on in the west. To understand the west, one needs to grasp what happened at Pea Ridge. This book will go a long way in helping you reach that goal.

Pea Ridge is a well crafted book which deals with an obscure but extremely important battle early in the Civil War. The authors present their story in a very engaging and readable style which gives a real sense of being on the frigid and tangled battlefield in Northwestern Arkansas. The two armies and their commanders are described in wonderful detail, and the action flows right from the start. After finishing the book, I was struck by just what Curtis and the Army of the Southwest had accomplished, and by how many precedents he had set for future operations. Nevertheless, his accomplishments have been largely ignored. This book helps rescue him from obscurity, and is without a doubt the definitive study of this battle. Pea Ridge is a fantastic book on the Trans-Mississippi theater of the war, and when read along with Cozzen's book on Iuka and Corinth, provides a very complete picture of the formation of Van Dorn's and Price's armies and their fate. I highly recommend this book as an essential volume on the Civil War in the West.