Synopses & Reviews
As most Americans of the 1860s fixed their attention on the battlefields of Shiloh and Manassas, another war raged on the largely unsettled Western frontier. This splendid work by the author of The Patriot Chiefs restores this "other" Civil War to its true, epic proportions. With formidable scholarship and irresistible narrative ease, Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., tells of the Yankee armada that foundered in the Louisiana bayous; of the bloody fighting on the ridges and prairies of the border states. where a Cherokee guerrilla leader was the last Confederate general to surrender -- two months after Appomattox: and of the U.S. Army's brutal campaigns against the Plains Indians in theaters as far apart as Minnesota and Colorado.
Review
"This fine book shows why Knopf is preeminent in the publishing of great works of history. Josephy gives us in vivid detail the battles that took place in the border states and territories from the beginning of the great conflict between the Union and Confederate troops until the last surrender by a Confederate general, the Cherokee guerrilla leader who gave up two months after Appomattox. He explores battles, armies, trails, rivers, and Indians in creating this first great comprehensive history of the Civil War in the West. If any criticism can be leveled at the author, it is in not paying quite enough attention to the traditional political and military leaders who have been examined when looking to explain the Western theatre. Especially weak is the author's insight into the role played by Jefferson Davis. However, given the immense scholarship available on the Confederate leader, and the scope of Josephy's work, this is not a serious omission." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 415-437) and index.