I’m Ready

“Light this candle!” You’ll do fine man. I’d like to hear your talk in the not-too-distant future.

Mike

On the bright side, I don’t there are any western cavalry ringers out there Eric, so this could work to your benefit. Maybe I’ll do something on the great John Pegram Raid and join you.

Seriously though, Sherman’s horsemen is about the best that I have read on cavalry ops in the west. I know you don’t like Forrest but he was a helluva fighter. While he was not the pure cavalryman such as Stuart, he certainly earned his victories.

Scott

I’d second (or third) the endorsement of Sherman’s Horsemen. Great book.

Eric, you’ll find the people at Traveller’s Rest and the Civil War community there in Nashville very accomodating. You may find after this experience that you need to shift some personal focus to the Western Theater–it is where the war was lost/won.

Hello Eric

I find the posts very interesting. Like you, I know very little about western theater cavalary. What I’m familiar with has been gleaned from biographies of Morgan and Forrest. I’m very unfamiliar with the union side. I was familar with the Evan’s book and should pick up a copy. Seems it is very well done. I believe his main adversary was Joe Wheeler?

One other confederate that I think would be interesting and seemed to be involved in many operations is Red Jackson. Someone like Sam Elliott could speak to this possibility much better than me. I may be biased, but it seems that Forrest is without a doubt the most prominent confederate in the west. He seems to have been successful in most of his military campaigns and I don’t think anyone can question his leadership when it comes to getting involved with the fighting. Of course, Ft. Pillow is the incident many people recognize him with.

I do agree with Mr. Elliott and many others that the war in the west needs more recognition and very likely was where the war was won/lost. Of course this is coming from someone that enjoys learning more about all aspects of the war. Good luck with your presentation. I’d love to see your powerpoint.

Don

Eric:

I too would like to see you speak in the future. Operatons in the West? Do you include the Texas Operations in that as well?

When I did the geneology thing awhile back I discovered that I have a relative that was with the First Colorado Cavalry and fought a Glorietta against the Texans there.

I never seen any reference to the operations anywhere, and wonder if these are considered Operation in the West?

Good Luck.

Chris

Not an admirer of the great NBF!! Shocked, I’m Shocked. Since you’ll be in Nashville, try and go south on I-65 to see the ‘great’ statue of him in Brentwood.

Western Cav ops are highly under-covered. Considering that by 1863, nearly 1/4 of all the Rebel troops under arms were mounted, it is all the more surprising that the dominant campaigns of that year each show the Rebels badly surprised, their cavalry outfought and outmanuevered, and their generals blinded. Grant at Vicksburg, Rosecrans at Tullahoma and Chattanooga, even Burnsides in East Tennessee.

There are a few very interesting officers sent west. William Martin learned his trade under Stuart with the Jeff Davis Legion, and was sent west to take command of a brigade, then a division, under Joe Wheeler. Martin was a pretty good officer.

Good luck.

Dave Powell

Drew:

I have read it and enjoyed it very much. I knew nothing of that area at all until I read the book. If you click on my link you can see the little I wrote about it.

Chris

I’ll just throw one more endorsement of Evans’ book out there; helluva book. And I’m not even a cavalry afficionado (full apologies to the owner of this blog!).

Did I hear a rumor awhile back that Evans might do a full length study of the Atlanta campaign as a whole? Maybe I just dreamt that up. If he gave the whole campaign the same detailed coverage as the cavalry raids south of the Chattahoochee, all I can say is…bring it on!

A.P.

“Second team”? Led by “lesser soldiers” or “rejects” from out East? And a comment suggesting all talent went east? There were amazing and courageous Union raids out West–could a traditional focus on the East cause a lack of comparable renown? With so much conquered territory to safeguard, Union cavalry played a key role where not as necessary in the East. Grierson wasn’t talented? What about John H. Wilson (who went West from the East)? Sheridan cut his teeth out west with the 2d Michigan Cav and remained there til ’64. The western cavalry must have covered far more miles than the eastern, especially given their participation in Sherman’s ’64-’65 exploits. Much has been written about Forrest, but not much else. Mr. W, perhaps this suggests a crying need to do some works about the western horse soldiers who helped save the Union…

Dave,
I spotted a copy online for $50, but decided it didn’t interest me quite THAT much, esp. since it’s an unknown quantity. It was published by the town of Mosheim and was probably just sold locally. Another E. Tenn. book that sounds intriguing is David C. Smith’s “Campaign to nowhere: The results of General Longstreet’s move into upper East Tennessee”.

Drew

I think a lot of people tend to carryover to the West the general eastern impression of the relative effectiveness of the Union vs. Confed. cavalry (i.e. parity in 1863 then gradual Union domination, etc.). From my own reading and research, I’ve always had the impression that Union cavalry was never inferior in the West, and often superior due to steeper initial advantages in training/discipline and equipment. While many fixate on Confederate raiders, it needs to be recognized that Western Federal cavalry raided all over creation from 1862 onward. While Confederates had to have a high percentage of cavalry in the West to patrol the vast areas opened up to union raiding after the Federal successes in 1862, I definitely agree with you, Dave, that the Confeds overdid it.