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Regtl. Quartermaster Chickamauga 2018 Vicksburg 2019
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2015
- Location
- Texas
By William L. Shea & Terrence J. Winschel.
Published in 2003 by The University of Nebraska Press.
223 pages of text including Epilogue,Notes,Bibliographical Essay,Index,13 Illustrations and 16 maps.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8032-9344-1.
Paperback. Retail price $16.95.
I bought a "Very Good" Autographed Copy at Amazon for $1.69 + S&H which actually turned out to be in "Like New" condition.
The cover is from the Andy Thomas print "The Guns Of Vicksburg" which is hanging on my bedroom wall and I'm looking at as I write this.
Finished this one today. I bought the book thinking it might be about the Siege Of Vicksburg but it is actually a well written starter book about the entire Vicksburg Campaign, including on the Yazoo River and Port Hudson and all the action west of the Mississippi River in Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. The book is comprised of 16 Chapters and only Chapters 11-14 are about the Siege. In those chapters there are 2 really good maps of the Confederate siege lines and fortifications and Union troops dispositions during the May 19 and May 22,1863 Union assaults on the lines.
Although I have read 2 books on the Vicksburg Campaign,1 on Champion Hill,1 on Port Hudson and 3 on operations in Louisiana west of the Mississippi River,I read and wrote down 4 things from this book that I don't recall reading/seeing before about the Vicksburg Campaign:
1. That the resounding Union victory at the Battle of Arkansas Post on Jan. 9-11,1863 was part of the Vicksburg Campaign and had a profound impact on the course of the war in Arkansas.
2. That a short-line railroad ran from Port Hudson for 19 miles northeast to Clinton,LA,both of which I visited twice last year.
3. Gen. McPherson overstated Confederate troop strength at the Battle of Raymond on May 12,1863, causing Grant to continue on northeast to Jackson pursuing the Confederates retreating from Raymond. His original plan was to march directly north from Raymond and cut the rail line between Jackson and Vicksburg.
4. The Confederate campaign and final attack on Helena, Arkansas on July 4,1863 was meant to be a diversion to draw Union troops away from Vicksburg.
The Epilogue of the book is a summary of the post-Vicksburg life of 18 key figures of the campaign and the state of preservation/development of some of the battlefields and parks as of publication of the book.
The length,subject organization by chapter and maps quality makes this book an easy and fairly quick read.
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