Failure in the Saddle

Failure in the Saddle PDF Author: David A. Powell
Publisher: Savas Beatie
ISBN: 1611210569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
An award–winning, “deeply researched and thoroughly analyzed” account of the Confederate cavalry’s mistakes that turned Chickamauga into a Pyrrhic victory (Eric J. Wittenberg, award-winning author of The Battle of Brandy Station). Tales of the Confederate cavalry’s raids and daring exploits create a whiff of lingering romance about the horse soldiers of the Lost Cause. Sometimes, however, romance obscures history. In August 1863 William Rosecrans’ Union Army of the Cumberland embarked on a campaign of maneuver to turn Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee out of Chattanooga, one of the most important industrial and logistical centers of the Confederacy. Despite the presence of two Southern cavalry corps—nearly 14,000 horsemen—under legendary commanders Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joe Wheeler, Union troops crossed the Tennessee River unopposed and unseen, slipped through the passes cutting across the knife-ridged mountains, moved into the narrow valleys, and turned Bragg’s left flank. Threatened with the loss of the railroad that fed his army, Bragg had no choice but to retreat. He lost Chattanooga without a fight. After two more weeks of maneuvering, skirmishing, and botched attacks, Bragg struck back at Chickamauga, where he was once again surprised by the position of the Union army and the manner in which the fighting unfolded. Although the combat ended with a stunning Southern victory, Federal counterblows that November reversed all that had been so dearly purchased. David A. Powell’s Failure in the Saddle is the first in-depth attempt to determine what role the Confederate cavalry played in both the loss of Chattanooga and the staggering number of miscues that followed up to, through, and beyond Chickamauga. Powell draws upon an array of primary accounts and his intimate knowledge of the battlefield to reach several startling conclusions: Bragg’s experienced cavalry generals routinely fed him misleading information, failed to screen important passes and river crossings, allowed petty command politics to routinely influence their decision-making, and on more than one occasion disobeyed specific and repeated orders that may have changed the course of the campaign. Richly detailed, Failure in the Saddle offers new perspectives on the role of the Rebel horsemen in every combat large and small waged during this long and bloody campaign and, by default, a fresh assessment of the generalship of Braxton Bragg. This judiciously reasoned account includes a guided tour of the cavalry operations, several appendices of important information, and original cartography. Winner of the Civil War Round Table of Atlanta’s Richard Harwell Award

Failure in the Saddle

Failure in the Saddle PDF Author: David A. Powell
Publisher: Savas Beatie
ISBN: 1611210569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 378

Get Book Here

Book Description
An award–winning, “deeply researched and thoroughly analyzed” account of the Confederate cavalry’s mistakes that turned Chickamauga into a Pyrrhic victory (Eric J. Wittenberg, award-winning author of The Battle of Brandy Station). Tales of the Confederate cavalry’s raids and daring exploits create a whiff of lingering romance about the horse soldiers of the Lost Cause. Sometimes, however, romance obscures history. In August 1863 William Rosecrans’ Union Army of the Cumberland embarked on a campaign of maneuver to turn Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee out of Chattanooga, one of the most important industrial and logistical centers of the Confederacy. Despite the presence of two Southern cavalry corps—nearly 14,000 horsemen—under legendary commanders Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joe Wheeler, Union troops crossed the Tennessee River unopposed and unseen, slipped through the passes cutting across the knife-ridged mountains, moved into the narrow valleys, and turned Bragg’s left flank. Threatened with the loss of the railroad that fed his army, Bragg had no choice but to retreat. He lost Chattanooga without a fight. After two more weeks of maneuvering, skirmishing, and botched attacks, Bragg struck back at Chickamauga, where he was once again surprised by the position of the Union army and the manner in which the fighting unfolded. Although the combat ended with a stunning Southern victory, Federal counterblows that November reversed all that had been so dearly purchased. David A. Powell’s Failure in the Saddle is the first in-depth attempt to determine what role the Confederate cavalry played in both the loss of Chattanooga and the staggering number of miscues that followed up to, through, and beyond Chickamauga. Powell draws upon an array of primary accounts and his intimate knowledge of the battlefield to reach several startling conclusions: Bragg’s experienced cavalry generals routinely fed him misleading information, failed to screen important passes and river crossings, allowed petty command politics to routinely influence their decision-making, and on more than one occasion disobeyed specific and repeated orders that may have changed the course of the campaign. Richly detailed, Failure in the Saddle offers new perspectives on the role of the Rebel horsemen in every combat large and small waged during this long and bloody campaign and, by default, a fresh assessment of the generalship of Braxton Bragg. This judiciously reasoned account includes a guided tour of the cavalry operations, several appendices of important information, and original cartography. Winner of the Civil War Round Table of Atlanta’s Richard Harwell Award

Homegrown Yankees

Homegrown Yankees PDF Author: James Alex Baggett
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807142522
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 970

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Book Description
Of all the states in the Confederacy, Tennessee was the most sectionally divided. East Tennesseans opposed secession at the ballot box in 1861, petitioned unsuccessfully for separate statehood, resisted the Confederate government, enlisted in Union militias, elected U.S. congressmen, and fled as refugees into Kentucky. These refugees formed Tennessee's first Union cavalry regiments during early 1862, followed shortly thereafter by others organized in Union-occupied Middle and West Tennessee. In Homegrown Yankees, the first book-length study of Union cavalry from a Confederate state, James Alex Baggett tells the remarkable story of Tennessee's loyal mounted regiments. Fourteen mounted regiments that fought primarily within the boundaries of the state and eight local units made up Tennessee's Union cavalry. Young, nonslaveholding farmers who opposed secession, the Confederacy, and the war -- from isolated villages east of Knoxville, the Cumberland Mountains, or the Tennessee River counties in the west -- filled the ranks. Most Tennesseans denounced these local bluecoats as renegades, turncoats, and Tories; accused them of betraying their people, their section, and their race; and held them in greater contempt than soldiers from the North. Though these homegrown Yankees participated in many battles -- including those in the Stones River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, East Tennessee, Nashville, and Atlanta campaigns -- their story provides rare insights into what occurred between the battles. For them, military action primarily meant almost endless skirmishing with partisans, guerrillas, and bushwackers, as well as with the Rebel raiders of John Hunt Morgan, Joseph Wheeler, and Nathan Bedford Forrest, who frequently recruited and supplied themselves from behind enemy lines. Tennessee's Union cavalry scouted and foraged the countryside, guarded outposts and railroads, acted as couriers, supported the flanks of infantry, and raided the enemy. On occasion, especially during the Nashville campaign, they provided rapid pursuit of Confederate forces. They also helped protect fellow unionists from an aggressive pro-Confederate insurgency after 1862. Baggett vividly describes the deprivation, sickness, and loneliness of cavalrymen living on the war's periphery and traces how circumstances beyond their control -- such as terrain, transport, equipage, weaponry, public sentiment, and military policy -- affected their lives. He also explores their well-earned reputation for plundering -- misdeeds motivated by revenge, resentment, a lack of discipline, and the hard-war policy of the Union army. In the never-before-told story of these cavalrymen, Homegrown Yankees offers new insights into an unexplored facet of southern Unionism and provides an exciting new perspective on the Civil War in Tennessee.

Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Shiloh, 6-7 April 1862

Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Shiloh, 6-7 April 1862 PDF Author: Jeffrey J. Gudmens
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428910123
Category : Shiloh National Military Park (Tenn. and Miss.)
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description


The Cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland

The Cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland PDF Author: Dennis W. Belcher
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476623961
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
During its two-year history, the cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland fought the Confederates in some of the most important actions of the Civil War, including Stones River, Chickamauga, the Tullahoma Campaign, the pursuit of Joseph Wheeler in October 1863 and the East Tennessee Campaign. They battled with legendary Confederate cavalry units commanded by Nathan Bedford Forrest, John Hunt Morgan, Wheeler and others. By October 1864, the cavalry grew from eight regiments to four divisions--composed of units from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee--before participating in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, where the Union cavalry suffered 30 percent casualties. This history of the Army of the Cumberland's cavalry units analyzes their success and failures and re-evaluates their alleged poor service during the Atlanta Campaign.

Cumberland’s Culloden Army 1745–46

Cumberland’s Culloden Army 1745–46 PDF Author: Stuart Reid
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1849088470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
In August 1745 Charles Edward Stuart, the 'Young Pretender', landed in Scotland and sparked the Second Jacobite Rising. The Jacobite forces seized Perth, then Edinburgh, where they proclaimed the Young Pretender's father King James VIII; they trounced their Hanoverian opponents at Prestonpans and crossed into England, getting as far south as Derby before withdrawing into Scotland. Far from universally popular north of the border, the Jacobite army bested another Hanoverian army at Falkirk and besieged Stirling, only to be routed by the Duke of Cumberland's army at Culloden in April 1746, a crushing defeat that ended any prospect of a Stuart restoration. Featuring full-colour artwork depicting the distinctive uniforms of Cumberland's men, this exhaustively researched study offers a wealth of detail of regimental strengths and casualties and includes an extended chronology that places individual units in specific places throughout the campaign that culminated at Culloden.

Staff Ride Handbook For The Battle Of Perryville, 8 October 1862

Staff Ride Handbook For The Battle Of Perryville, 8 October 1862 PDF Author: Robert S. Cameron
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1257745042
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This handbook serves to facilitate military staff rides to Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site in Kentucky. Perryville does not face the threat of encroaching development. Following the course of the requires no special arrangements with property owners. It includes information concerning the nature of Civil War armies, the 1862 Kentucky campaign, maps, and more specialized material detailing the Armies of the Ohio and the Mississippi. This guide offers a general sense of the flow of the battle of Perryville, punctuated by select snapshots of specific units and events for study and discussion. The battle provides an excellent vehicle for studying brigade and below operations.

Little Phil

Little Phil PDF Author: Eric J. Wittenberg
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1612344399
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Provides insight into the real personality of the famous warrior

Wilson's Cavalry Corps

Wilson's Cavalry Corps PDF Author: Jerry Keenan
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786427329
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
The famed fighting force of Union General William T. Sherman was plagued by a lack of first-rate cavalry--mostly because of Sherman's belief, after some bad experiences, that the cavalry was largely a waste of good horses. The man Grant sent to change Sherman's mind was James Harrison Wilson, a bright, ambitious, and outspoken young officer with a penchant for organization. Wilson proved the perfect man for the job, transforming a collection of independent regiments and brigades into a fiercely effective mounted unit. Wilson's Cavalry, as it came to be known, played a major role in thwarting Confederate General Hood's 1864 invasion of Tennessee, then moved south for the celebrated capture of Selma, Montgomery, and Columbus. Despite such success, it is this book that is the first overall history of the Cavalry Corps. In addition to meticulous description of military actions, the book affords particular attention to Wilson's outstanding achievement in creating an infrastructure for his corps, even as he covered the Federal flanks in the withdrawal to Franklin and Nashville.

The Good Men Who Won the War

The Good Men Who Won the War PDF Author: Robert E. Hunt
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817316884
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Examines how Union veterans of the Army of the Cumberland employed the extinction of slavery in the trans-Appalachian South in their memory of the Civil War Robert Hunt examines how Union veterans of the Army of the Cumberland employed the extinction of slavery in the trans-Appalachian South in their memory of the Civil War. Hunt argues that rather than ignoring or belittling emancipation, it became central to veterans’ retrospective understanding of what the war, and their service in it, was all about. The Army of the Cumberland is particularly useful as a subject for this examination because it invaded the South deeply, encountering numerous ex-slaves as fugitives, refugees, laborers on military projects, and new recruits. At the same time, the Cumberlanders were mostly Illinoisans, Ohioans, Indianans, and, significantly, Kentucky Unionists, all from areas suspicious of abolition before the war. Hunt argues that the collapse of slavery in the trans-Appalachian theater of the Civil War can be usefully understood by exploring the post-war memories of this group of Union veterans. He contends that rather than remembering the war as a crusade against the evils of slavery, the veterans of the Army of the Cumberland saw the end of slavery as a by-product of the necessary defeat of the planter aristocracy that had sundered the Union; a good and necessary outcome, but not necessarily an assertion of equality between the races. Some of the most provocative discussions about the Civil War in current scholarship are concerned with how memory of the war was used by both the North and the South in Reconstruction, redeemer politics, the imposition of segregation, and the Spanish-American War. This work demonstrates that both the collapse of slavery and the economic and social post-War experience convinced these veterans that they had participated in the construction of the United States as a world power, built on the victory won against corrupt Southern plutocrats who had impeded the rightful development of the country.

The Statistical Records of the Armies of the United States

The Statistical Records of the Armies of the United States PDF Author: Frederick Phisterer
Publisher: Digital Scanning Inc
ISBN: 9781582185392
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
This is volume thirteen of the sixteen-volume series about the Army and the Navy in the Civil War.