Civil War History - The South & Western TheatersCheck this forum for all South and Western Theater Questions. Included are the Western, Pacific, Trans-Mississippi, & Lower Seaboard and Gulf Approach Theaters.
There are only three events west of the Smokey Mountains that count during the civil war.
The first was Shiloh not because of Grant's gull but because of that one Confederate generals death.
The second was Vicksburg for it was the climax of one of the great campaigns in military history led by Grant.
The third was the fall of Atlanta for it insured Lincoln's reelection in 1864.
All the rest was a side show to what Lee was doing in the east. He was outmatched countless times and still bested his opponent countless times. He was the embodiment of the southern cause and when he finally fell bested by a better opponent the south fell with him.
Anything past the Mississippi well I will have to get back with you for that out there was more of a rogue and marauder type combat..
The CW west was just a side show the CW and Lee in the east...
Chickamauga (2nd only to Gettysburg in casualties)
Chattanooga
Murfreesboro (aka Stones River)
Franklin & Nashville
Bragg's Kentucky Campaign (Perryville)
Fort Donelson
Red River Campaign
Mobile Bay
Mobile Campaign
New Orleans (Forts Jackson & St. Phillip)
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Not to mention the blown opportunity to take St. Louis when that idiot of a Texas Ranger Ben McCulloch refused to follow Price in Missouri after the battle of Wilson’s Creek in 1861. Or Jeff Davis’ buddy Earl Van Dorn’s inability to defeat a numerically inferior force at Pea Ridge 1863, capped by his moving his force east of the Mississippi, essentially abandoning Missouri and most of Arkansas. I could go on and on.
G*****n you Ben McCulloch!
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Chickamauga (2nd only to Gettysburg in casualties)
Chattanooga
Murfreesboro (aka Stones River)
Franklin & Nashville
Bragg's Kentucky Campaign (Perryville)
Fort Donelson
Red River Campaign
Mobile Bay
Mobile Campaign
New Orleans (Forts Jackson & St. Phillip)
Battalion,
This is a great list of side show battles each has their place in history but at last just minor.
I am gracious so I will add:
Chattanooga: This is where Grant ascends to the best general in the union army.
Mobil Bay: The navel war of the CW is to offen ignored.
What you westerns forget is almost every battle Lee fought the Confederacy was at risk of losing Richmond and the war. Lee battles will always be major moments in the CW compared to battles in the west.
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This is a great list of side show battles each has their place in history but at last just minor.
I am gracious so I will add:
Chattanooga: This is where Grant ascends to the best general in the union army.
Mobil Bay: The navel war of the CW is to offen ignored.
What you westerns forget is almost every battle Lee fought the Confederacy was at risk of losing Richmond and the war. Lee battles will always be major moments in the CW compared to battles in the west.
Sorry. I have to disagree with you.
First the capture of Forts Henry & Donelson opened the way into Tennessee, secured Kentucky (and a large swath of Tennessee) for the Union and was a much-needed victory for Union morale at that stage of the war. The Conferacy lost the resources of Tennessee and Kentucky and soon much of Mississippi and Arkansas as well.
Second, the capture of New Orleans is too often overlooked as one of the greatest coups of the Union in the war. At the time, New Orleans was the largest city in the Confederacy and, if I recall correctly, the largest port in the United States, handling more tonnage than New York. Vicksburg would have meant nothing without the capture of New Orleans. As porous as the Union Blockade was, New Orleans in Confederate hands, along with the cotton production of the Red River valley, would have provided much needed capital for the Confederate cause. I think the capture of New Orleans, along with Vicksburg, and the resultant opening of the Mississippi to trade for the Midwestern farmers mollified sentiments in the Midwest toward the war.
Mobile Bay comes late in the war and pales in comparison to the capture of New Orleans.
As to the West being a sideshow, I also cannot agree. While the battles in the East were more politically important, the war in the West was what doomed the Confederacy militarily and economically.
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Dunno. McCulloch had he gone with Price's Missouri Guard into Missouri, would have had to go with about 3 REGT'S that had mustered into service before Wilson's Creek. The bulk of his force including his artillery were Arkansas State troops not mustered into CS Service. In fact those troops and all of Pearces Arkansas troops were already promised to Hardee the Northern Ark district commander upon muster into CS service.
Prices troops were under armed and under provisioned. I don't see how McCullochs 3 REGT'S would have helped Price carry St Louis.
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