Trans-Mississippi Theater course?

[Stryker65]

So, I'm only eighteen, but I've been thinking about this for a few years now.

If I ever do get to be a history professor, I would most certainly like to teach a course about this Theater. It's fairly ignored in most Civil War overview courses, and I feel like a specialized study would better highlight the actions that occurred herein -- it DID include half of the entire country!

As every history course usually contains a pre-subject, main subject, and post-subject, here are my ideas for how that would come out:

Prewar:

• A background of the various Native American tribes out west (the Cherokee/Creek/etc in the Indian Territory, the Sioux in the Dakotas, the Arapaho/Cheyenne in the Colorado/Utah region, the Navajo in the New Mexico region, the Utes/Paiutes in Utah)
• The California situation (Albert S. Johnston, Governor Downey, the arsenals, etc)
• The stagecoaches and Pony Express
• Bleeding Kansas

1861:

• The Twiggs surrender, including that of Major Lynde and the resulting attacks by Native Americans
• The entreaties to the Indian Territory, and the evacuation of the US garrisons to Fort Leavenworth
• The surrender of the New Orleans defenses and of the Little Rock arsenal
• The MSG crisis in Missouri, including Camp Jackson and the St. Louis riots, followed by Wilson's Creek, Lexington, and Frémont's offensive
• The California situation (again), uprisings in Arizona, etc

1862:

• Capture of Ship Island, New Orleans, battle of Baton Rouge
• Sibley's New Mexican campaign, the California Column
• New Madrid, control of the northern Mississippi
• Guerrilla fighting in AR, MO, KS
• Expansion of Union-held Missouri, expeditions into Arkansas (Pea Ridge)
• Capture of Galveston
• Sioux uprisings

1863:

• Siege of Port Hudson, operations against Vicksburg, operations on the Mississippi River (Arkansas Post, Helena)
• Battle of Galveston
• Connor's Utah expedition
• Attacks along the Texas coast (Brownsville, Mustang Island, Sabine Pass)
• Shelby's Raid
• Raising of Louisiana/Arkansas/Missouri USCT
• Little Rock campaign
• Guerrilla fighting, bandits, etc.

1864:

• Red River Campaign
• Guarding telegraph lines
• Camden Expedition
• 19th Corps sent east
• Price's Raid
• Sully's/Sibley's expeditions in Dakotas
• Shoshone raids in California, Mountain fighting in Oregon/Washington/Humboldt
• Carson/Carleton in New Mexico, Chivington in Colorado (Sand Creek)

1865:

• Powder River expedition (Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, etc)
• "Galvanized Yankees"
• Union Trans-Mississippi strength transferred to Alabama for Mobile campaign
• Surrender of Kirby Smith
• Surrender of Red River forces
• Surrender of Stand Watie
• Sheridan's Texas expedition into Fifth Military District

Postwar:

• Reconstruction in Texas/Louisiana
• Beginning of the Indian Wars

Reading material for this subject would be the following:
- Alvin M. Josephy's "The Civil War in the American West"
- Anne J. Bailey/Daniel E. Sutherland's "Civil War Arkansas"
- Hampton Sides's "Blood and Thunder"
- Stephen B. Oates's "Confederate Cavalry West of the River"

...I'm probably still missing a lot, aren't I? Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[Stryker65]

Paging @huskerblitz @Library Lady for any further ideas on how college courses work. I have only a very general idea. Then again, I still have quite some time to think about it!

 

[jackt62]

I'm probably still missing a lot, aren't I? Anybody have any suggestions?

Excellent list! You would also want to add Banks' and Taylor's operations in the Bayou Teche and southeast Louisiana.

 

[Stryker65]

Excellent list! You would also want to add Banks' and Taylor's operations in the Bayou Teche and southeast Louisiana.

How could I forget those ... you're speaking of the Teche Campaign and the Milliken's Bend/Donaldsonville actions, correct?

 

[jackt62]

How could I forget those ... you're speaking of the Teche Campaign and the Milliken's Bend/Donaldsonville actions, correct?

Yep

 

[SJU]

Great list. Save room for me in the class.

 

[RedRover]

Reading material for this subject would be the following:
- Alvin M. Josephy's "The Civil War in the American West"
- Anne J. Bailey/Daniel E. Sutherland's "Civil War Arkansas"
- Hampton Sides's "Blood and Thunder"
- Stephen B. Oates's "Confederate Cavalry West of the River"

...I'm probably still missing a lot, aren't I? Anybody have any suggestions?

Hinton's history of the 1864 Confederate invasion of Missouri and Kansas...

Rebel Invasion of Missouri and Kansas

www.google.com

J.N. Edwards, Shelby and His Men, or, the war in the west...

Shelby and His Men

www.google.com

Memoir of Gen. Boggs, CSA, served in the Trans-Miss. Dept. late war...

Military Reminiscences of Gen. Wm. R. Boggs, C.S.A.

www.google.com

Governor Crawford's history of "Kansas in the Sixties"...

Kansas in the Sixties

An autobiography: the author was captain in the 2nd Kansas Infantry, 1861 ; 2nd Kansas Cavalry, 1862-63 ; Colonel of the 83rd U.S. Colored Infantry, 1863-64 ; Governor of Kansas, 1865-68 ; and Colonel of the 19th Kansas Cavalry, 1868-69.

www.google.com

Cole Younger describes his guerrilla company scouting in Louisiana mid-war, and in 1864 riding into Colorado, etc.

The Story of Cole Younger

Many may wonder why an old "guerrilla" should feel called upon at this late day to rehearse the story of his life. On the eve of sixty, I come out into the world to find a hundred or more of books, of greater or less pretensions, purporting to be a history of "The Lives of the Younger Brothers,"...

www.google.com

Wiley Britton, Civil War on the Border...

Vol. I.

Anarrative of operations in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and the Indian Territory during the years 1861-62, based upon the official reports of the federal commanders Lyon, Sigel, Sturgis, Fremont, Halleck, Curtis, Schofield, blunt, Herron and Totten, a

www.google.com

Vol. II:

The Civil War on the Border

www.google.com

Also by Britton, The Union Indian Brigade...

The Union Indian Brigade in the Civil War

Indians in Union and battles involved in.

www.google.com

Sioux Wars in Minnesota...

Dakota War Whoop, Or, Indian Massacres and War in Minnesota, of 1862-'3

www.google.com

Vol. 1: Minnesota in the CW and Indian wars of the 1860s...

Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1861-1865

[I] Historical sketches and rosters of Minnesota organizations in the Civil and Indian Wars. List and short record of general officers appointed from Minnesota, and of other Minnesota officers who were brevetted as general officers. List and short record of officers appointed from Minnesota in...

www.google.com

Vol. 2:

Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1861-1865

[I] Historical sketches and rosters of Minnesota organizations in the Civil and Indian Wars. List and short record of general officers appointed from Minnesota, and of other Minnesota officers who were brevetted as general officers. List and short record of officers appointed from Minnesota in...

www.google.com

The Indian War of 1864 in KS, NE, CO, and WY:

The Indian War of 1864

www.google.com

Irving's Colorado pioneer of 1860...

Sixty Years in Colorado

www.google.com

Indian Wars of the Northwest, including the 1860's...

Indian Wars of the Northwest

www.google.com

 

[huskerblitz]

Paging @huskerblitz @Library Lady for any further ideas on how college courses work. I have only a very general idea. Then again, I still have quite some time to think about it!

Well, based on my experience you would have to get a position which means you'd be teaching areas they have a need...which might be slightly out of your area.

Probably once established, you would have to propose a curriculum change for this type of class. Chances are this would be considered an upperclass course (300-400 level). You would need to outline the objectives and purpose for the course. And of course a list of course materials and costs associated. There is a whole process the proposed course would have to go through, starting with the department head and so forth. Bottom line...can you get enough students to take the course to make it pay for itself.

That's just an overview from my experience and that process could be totally different depending on where you go to. But I'd sign up for it!

 

[Philip Leigh]

Prairie Grove?

You've included a lot. I count at least 10 books. How many weeks would you allow for the course?

 

[Stryker65]

Prairie Grove?

Shoot. You're right.

You've included a lot. I count at least 10 books. How many weeks would you allow for the course?

No idea. Not even sure how it would work, tbh...

 

[TallTallMan]

You ought to make a whole book out of it, too!

Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee covers some ACW ground in the first few chapters.

A fun suggestion: How about discussing the New Virginia Colony in Mexico?

 

[bdtex]

Reading material for this subject would be the following:
- Alvin M. Josephy's "The Civil War in the American West"
- Anne J. Bailey/Daniel E. Sutherland's "Civil War Arkansas"
- Hampton Sides's "Blood and Thunder"
- Stephen B. Oates's "Confederate Cavalry West of the River"

...I'm probably still missing a lot, aren't I? Anybody have any suggestions?

Everything written by Don Frazier, Ed Cotham and Gary Joiner

 

[SJU]

So, I'm only eighteen, but I've been thinking about this for a few years now.

If I ever do get to be a history professor, I would most certainly like to teach a course about this Theater. It's fairly ignored in most Civil War overview courses, and I feel like a specialized study would better highlight the actions that occurred herein -- it DID include half of the entire country!

As every history course usually contains a pre-subject, main subject, and post-subject, here are my ideas for how that would come out:

Prewar:

• A background of the various Native American tribes out west (the Cherokee/Creek/etc in the Indian Territory, the Sioux in the Dakotas, the Arapaho/Cheyenne in the Colorado/Utah region, the Navajo in the New Mexico region, the Utes/Paiutes in Utah)
• The California situation (Albert S. Johnston, Governor Downey, the arsenals, etc)
• The stagecoaches and Pony Express
• Bleeding Kansas

1861:

• The Twiggs surrender, including that of Major Lynde and the resulting attacks by Native Americans
• The entreaties to the Indian Territory, and the evacuation of the US garrisons to Fort Leavenworth
• The surrender of the New Orleans defenses and of the Little Rock arsenal
• The MSG crisis in Missouri, including Camp Jackson and the St. Louis riots, followed by Wilson's Creek, Lexington, and Frémont's offensive
• The California situation (again), uprisings in Arizona, etc

1862:

• Capture of Ship Island, New Orleans, battle of Baton Rouge
• Sibley's New Mexican campaign, the California Column
• New Madrid, control of the northern Mississippi
• Guerrilla fighting in AR, MO, KS
• Expansion of Union-held Missouri, expeditions into Arkansas (Pea Ridge)
• Capture of Galveston
• Sioux uprisings

1863:

• Siege of Port Hudson, operations against Vicksburg, operations on the Mississippi River (Arkansas Post, Helena)
• Battle of Galveston
• Connor's Utah expedition
• Attacks along the Texas coast (Brownsville, Mustang Island, Sabine Pass)
• Shelby's Raid
• Raising of Louisiana/Arkansas/Missouri USCT
• Little Rock campaign
• Guerrilla fighting, bandits, etc.

1864:

• Red River Campaign
• Guarding telegraph lines
• Camden Expedition
• 19th Corps sent east
• Price's Raid
• Sully's/Sibley's expeditions in Dakotas
• Shoshone raids in California, Mountain fighting in Oregon/Washington/Humboldt
• Carson/Carleton in New Mexico, Chivington in Colorado (Sand Creek)

1865:

• Powder River expedition (Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, etc)
• "Galvanized Yankees"
• Union Trans-Mississippi strength transferred to Alabama for Mobile campaign
• Surrender of Kirby Smith
• Surrender of Red River forces
• Surrender of Stand Watie
• Sheridan's Texas expedition into Fifth Military District

Postwar:

• Reconstruction in Texas/Louisiana
• Beginning of the Indian Wars

Reading material for this subject would be the following:
- Alvin M. Josephy's "The Civil War in the American West"
- Anne J. Bailey/Daniel E. Sutherland's "Civil War Arkansas"
- Hampton Sides's "Blood and Thunder"
- Stephen B. Oates's "Confederate Cavalry West of the River"

...I'm probably still missing a lot, aren't I? Anybody have any suggestions?

I read "Blood and Thunder" during a recent trip to New Mexico. It's a great book. Highly recommend it.
I picked these books up at the Glorietta Pass Visitor Center. I've only got through "Distant Bugles, Distant Drums" so far. It covers the New Mexico Campaign but is primarily focused on the Colorado response.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

I recommend "The Civil War in the American West" as the course title. At most universities it would be a Graduate level course since the Civil War Era (1848-1876) is a standard undergraduate course.

Further reading:
The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861-1865: A Study in Command by William Royston Geise
A Crisis in Confederate Command: Edmund Kirby Smith, Richard Taylor, and the Army of the Trans-Mississippi by Jeffery S. Prushankin
The Louisiana quadrilogy (Fire In The Cane Field, etc) by Donald S. Frazier

When the Wolf Came: The Civil War and the Indian Territory by Mary Jane Warde
Caught in the Maelstrom: The Indian Nations in the Civil War, 1861-1865 by Clint Crowe

The civil war within many of the Indian Territory tribes certainly warrants attention in a course like this.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

My Top 3 Trans-Mississippi Theater Battlefields (Highly Recommend).

* Wilson's Creek National Battlefield.

* Pea Ridge National Military Park.

* Honey Springs Battlefield.

 

[James Brenner]

My hunch is that the most difficult issue to address will be the, "so what?". How does the trans-Mississippi theater fit into a larger picture; why is it significant? Did it affect the war's outcome in any big way? Other issues - Manifest Destiny, immigration, railroads, native Americans, etc. - have all been pretty well covered. In my experience, academia frowns upon the drum and bugle kind of military history and prefers the "new" military history. Read that as social history. Themes such as officer professionalism, logistics, etc. are more acceptable.

One other thing, don't discount community colleges as places to teach.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

One other thing, don't discount community colleges as places to teach.

Community colleges and junior colleges usually only require a Masters, not a PhD, but their history offerings are usually limited to general education courses: American History 101 & 102, European History 101 & 102, World History 101 & 102 & 103

My hunch is that the most difficult issue to address will be the, "so what?".

I agree that some thesis or big idea would be a good selling point. Something about how not the events of 1860-1865 that took place in the West shaped the events that followed after the war.

Certainly there are consequences: mobilization without oversight helped enable Sand Creek which set the stage for future massacres, the Missouri guerilla war spawned the James Gang, and the infighting in Indian Territory probably hurt the Five Civilized Tribes more than any other event besides the Trail of Tears.

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

Everything written by Don Frazier, Ed Cotham and Gary Joiner

For sure.

I'd add Martin Hardwick Hall and Jerry Thompson, without a doubt.

Don Alberts and John P. Wilson have some good stuff as well.

 

[Library Lady]

The junior college down the road and across the street with 26,000+/- enrolled this past academic year offers what they call "Lifelong Learning." The catalogue describes these classes like this: "These classes are designed for adults of any age who want to pursue interests that enhance and energize their lives. The reduced senior fee is for those aged 55 and older." They always have a ton of "History and Culture" classes. When the Continuing Education catalogue comes out, that's the first place I look. These classes may be taught by faculty with advanced degrees or they may be taught by just regular folks with a deep interest in the subject matter. The college now offers a crash course in what a College of Education would call "Methods" for those regular folks who need to learn how to teach a class. Some classes are offered only on campus, but others are offered only via Zoom (or similar technology). One big class on the whole theater might work, but I tend to suspect that @Joshism is right that smaller, more discrete chunks would be more likely to be approved and attended. If you were living in an area directly affected by the goings on in this theater, you might have better attendance as it would be "local history."

 

[Bryce]

So, I'm only eighteen, but I've been thinking about this for a few years now.

If I ever do get to be a history professor, I would most certainly like to teach a course about this Theater. It's fairly ignored in most Civil War overview courses, and I feel like a specialized study would better highlight the actions that occurred herein -- it DID include half of the entire country!

As every history course usually contains a pre-subject, main subject, and post-subject, here are my ideas for how that would come out:

Prewar:

• A background of the various Native American tribes out west (the Cherokee/Creek/etc in the Indian Territory, the Sioux in the Dakotas, the Arapaho/Cheyenne in the Colorado/Utah region, the Navajo in the New Mexico region, the Utes/Paiutes in Utah)
• The California situation (Albert S. Johnston, Governor Downey, the arsenals, etc)
• The stagecoaches and Pony Express
• Bleeding Kansas

1861:

• The Twiggs surrender, including that of Major Lynde and the resulting attacks by Native Americans
• The entreaties to the Indian Territory, and the evacuation of the US garrisons to Fort Leavenworth
• The surrender of the New Orleans defenses and of the Little Rock arsenal
• The MSG crisis in Missouri, including Camp Jackson and the St. Louis riots, followed by Wilson's Creek, Lexington, and Frémont's offensive
• The California situation (again), uprisings in Arizona, etc

1862:

• Capture of Ship Island, New Orleans, battle of Baton Rouge
• Sibley's New Mexican campaign, the California Column
• New Madrid, control of the northern Mississippi
• Guerrilla fighting in AR, MO, KS
• Expansion of Union-held Missouri, expeditions into Arkansas (Pea Ridge)
• Capture of Galveston
• Sioux uprisings

1863:

• Siege of Port Hudson, operations against Vicksburg, operations on the Mississippi River (Arkansas Post, Helena)
• Battle of Galveston
• Connor's Utah expedition
• Attacks along the Texas coast (Brownsville, Mustang Island, Sabine Pass)
• Shelby's Raid
• Raising of Louisiana/Arkansas/Missouri USCT
• Little Rock campaign
• Guerrilla fighting, bandits, etc.

1864:

• Red River Campaign
• Guarding telegraph lines
• Camden Expedition
• 19th Corps sent east
• Price's Raid
• Sully's/Sibley's expeditions in Dakotas
• Shoshone raids in California, Mountain fighting in Oregon/Washington/Humboldt
• Carson/Carleton in New Mexico, Chivington in Colorado (Sand Creek)

1865:

• Powder River expedition (Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, etc)
• "Galvanized Yankees"
• Union Trans-Mississippi strength transferred to Alabama for Mobile campaign
• Surrender of Kirby Smith
• Surrender of Red River forces
• Surrender of Stand Watie
• Sheridan's Texas expedition into Fifth Military District

Postwar:

• Reconstruction in Texas/Louisiana
• Beginning of the Indian Wars

Reading material for this subject would be the following:
- Alvin M. Josephy's "The Civil War in the American West"
- Anne J. Bailey/Daniel E. Sutherland's "Civil War Arkansas"
- Hampton Sides's "Blood and Thunder"
- Stephen B. Oates's "Confederate Cavalry West of the River"

...I'm probably still missing a lot, aren't I? Anybody have any suggestions?

I would love to help you in anyway that I can. I'm an expert on prices Missouri invasion of September October 1864.