Book Description
This classic story seeks to illuminate a little-known theater of the Civil War--the cavalry battles of the Trans-Mississippi West, a region that included Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, the Indian Territory, and part of Louisiana. Stephen B. Oates traces the successes and defeats of the cavalry; its brief reinvigoration under John S. "Rip" Ford, who fought and won the last battle of the war at Palmetto Ranch; and finally, the disintegration of this once-proud fighting force. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Entertaining and useful niche work about CSA cavalry.
Note:In my original review I gave this work 4 stars, but I would now drop it a notch to 3 (if Amazon's system would allow me to change it) because of some errors I found.I don't believe these were intentional misrepresentations or a sign of bias, but instead indicate that the author did not examine some post war accounts as critically as he should.In particular, Oates' coverage of Marmaduke's First Missouri Raid and battles of Springfield and Hartville are at odds with both CSA and US After Action reports in the Official Records.

Update of my review:
As the author warns in the preface this is a difficult work to classify (and therefore review) because of its unusual focus.It is devoted to an overview of CSA cavalry operations West of the Mississippi.The author states that this is an adaptation of his thesis work and is unnecessarily humble about the nature of the book.Being his earliest work, some errors and lack of familiarity with some details become apparent later.

The book is well written and largely in narrative form covers the development, actions, and demise of CSA cavalry in the Trans-Mississippi theatre.It is an entertaining read because it fluidly covers the war from beginning to end from the Trans-Mississippi cavalryman's perspective. The great raids in Missouri are reviewed in narrative form with campaign maps.While I don't sense direct bias by the author, he does accept some post-war Confederate accounts without the necessary critical fact checking.

Sprinkled throughout are useful reference tables of the number of regiments and men raised in cavalry service, the cost of equipment, and the supply of horses. Following that is a list of units by state with their various field grade officers.So while I selected this work to get a better sense of perspective, I also found that it has become a useful reference for a portion of the war that is otherwise poorly represented in the historical record.

I recommend this work to anyone interested in better understanding the nature of warfare in the Trans-Mississippi, and particularly those interested in the cavalry action/raids in Missouri and Arkansas.However, the reader is cautioned not to accept the battle accounts without cross checking details. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

John Brown and His Judges
Oates provides an overview of the civil war comparable to many other texts but where he earns his five stars is on the two chapters on John Brown. This book was part of a mega-load of information I gathered for a thesis during my graduate studies.In the texts I gathered John Brown was either an immortal hero or a psychopathic murderer.Each author found Brown either right or wrong.Where Oates is an exception is that he examined past works on Brown, providing the arguments for good or bad and then gave the documented facts for the reader to come to their conclusions.Consequently, all former texts had flaws and omissions because authors chose a side of this controversial figure and wrote accordingly.Oates bounces from book to book filling in holes and striking what is myth and what is factless opinion.So far in my findings this is the best unbiased look at the life of John Brown.It should be read following a biography on Brown as Oates does not write a life story but rather sifts through the flaws of myths and heroism.

Not very good
This work of essays about Civil War era people isn't well done at all.While some material, especially on Lincoln, is good the tome lags in many areas.For example, the author entertains the asinine theory that theSouthern states were plotting to extend slavery into the North prior to theCivil War.Nothing could have been further from the truth.Also theauthor ignores the possibility that the reason that the South seceded fromthe Union was not that they didn't believe Lincoln's promise about notinterfering with slavery but that they were afraid of loosing the balanceof power in the senate.This scenario would have surely happened ifslavery was prevented from spreading.Another example of how lacklusterthe book is the chapter on the Old West included for no apparent reasonother than to provide the author an opportunity to needlessly attack JohnWayne, Nixon, and Paul Harvey about individualism.The author contendsthat it didn't exist in the Old West but he is wrong.While certain thingsbrought people together, most settlers were too far away to do this on adaily basis.This is a prime reason why the pioneers were such easypickings for Indian war parties, outlaws, and others like them.GeneralSherman, who was in charge for the defense of the West for a time, statedthis as a prime reason why the army couldn't protect all of the settlers. There are many more books worth a serious reader's time than this book.

Overblown, overrated, overpriced psedo-history
This book is one of the worst I've come across about the Civil War era.The chapters on Lincoln will suffice in showing the overall value of the work.While some characterizations of Lincoln are on the money, the authorcompletely and inexcusably overlooks the fallacies in Lincoln's views onslavery.For example, during the Lincoln-Douglas debates the authorignores Lincoln's view that blacks should be free yet shouldn't vote,intermarry, serve in the militia etc.The author also invokes too manytimes the worn-out cliche of the stereotypical southerner who wants tolynch blacks at every turn.Also a negative point in the book is the weirdinclusion of a chapter on the myth of the Old West.The author strangelyattacks John Wayne and Paul Harvey (!?) for daring to believe thatindividualism reigned in the Old West.Also the author exposes someliberal racism in implying that blacks and Indians don't need to "makeit on the own."Pick up some other book on the Civil War and it willsurely be worth your time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Flowing Reach
The book contains various writings about the time from Reconstruction to the end of the Cold War. The assembled multitude of capable scholars, from Eric Foner on Reconstruction, to Paul Fussell on the Great War, all combineclarity and brevity of text with insightful analysis to make this anenjoyable read. The questions at the end of each selection make this evenmore useful to a high school U.S. History teacher and his students. Therange of topics also adds to the enjoyability of the book. The topicsinclude Sitting Bull, Women's Suffrage and WWI, the Bomb, Vietnam, BettyFriedan and Richard Nixon, among many other people and events. It is wellworth the read. ... Read more