Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West

Rating:
Summary: General Van Dorn Stinks up Arkansas.
Review: Almost from the end of the war, most of the books and articles about various battles and leaders of the civil war tended to focus on Virginia. The western theater got nowhere near the attention it deserved and the Trans-Mississippi has been almost completely ignored. Fortunately, William Shea and Earl Hess have decided to end all of that and have given us a wonderful book about the campaigns that cumulated in the Battle of Pea Ridge. Remarkable characters with which many readers will not be familiar like Van Dorn, Curtis, Price and Pike will begin to come into focus and will not be easily forgotten.

The authors do an excellent job also of telling the stories of the common soldiers. They had to have dug through mountains of newspapers and journals to come up with all of this information but the results are well worth their efforts. Quote after quote tells the reader of the miserable conditions, the incessant marching, the hunger, and the fear. A large number of maps and portraits are a great help as the reader tries to picture what is going on. Many authors of this kind of detailed study of a battle end up giving the reader headaches with minute details about troop movements, but Shea and Hess manage to get the information across without becoming dull at all.

The portrait painted of this campaign is quite clear. Untimely deaths of commanders on the battlefield played a large part in the Confederate defeat, but mostly it was their inept General. With the exception of General Sigel, the Union commanders seem to have been an excellent group of officers who led brave men and led them well. Often overlooked is the bravery and fortitude of the common soldiers of both sides. These authors do not make that mistake. Shea and Hess do call it like they see it though and Freemasons beware, Albert Pike is not well treated.

The authors conclude with a look at the battle of Pea Ridge from a larger perspective. Many tactics used during this odd winter campaign would later become common practice for Union armies. Generals Grant and Sherman would take a large page from Curtis' play book when they in campaigns to come cut their supply lines and lived off of the land. As the authors point out, General Curtis does not get the credit he deserves for what he did at Pea Ridge. Things in Tennessee might have turned out very differently if the Federals had lost on that little ridge in Arkansas. To really understand the entire civil war, one must grasp what was going on in the west. To understand the west, one needs to grasp what happened at Pea Ridge. This book will go a long way in helping you reach that goal.

Rating:
Summary: General Van Dorn Stinks up Arkansas.
Review: Almost from the end of the war, most of the books and articles about various battles and leaders of the civil war tended to focus on Virginia. The western theater got nowhere near the attention it deserved and the Trans-Mississippi has been almost completely ignored. Fortunately, William Shea and Earl Hess have decided to end all of that and have given us a wonderful book about the campaigns that cumulated in the Battle of Pea Ridge. Remarkable characters with which many readers will not be familiar like Van Dorn, Curtis, Price and Pike will begin to come into focus and will not be easily forgotten.

The authors do an excellent job also of telling the stories of the common soldiers. They had to have dug through mountains of newspapers and journals to come up with all of this information but the results are well worth their efforts. Quote after quote tells the reader of the miserable conditions, the incessant marching, the hunger, and the fear. A large number of maps and portraits are a great help as the reader tries to picture what is going on. Many authors of this kind of detailed study of a battle end up giving the reader headaches with minute details about troop movements, but Shea and Hess manage to get the information across without becoming dull at all.

The portrait painted of this campaign is quite clear. Untimely deaths of commanders on the battlefield played a large part in the Confederate defeat, but mostly it was their inept General. With the exception of General Sigel, the Union commanders seem to have been an excellent group of officers who led brave men and led them well. Often overlooked is the bravery and fortitude of the common soldiers of both sides. These authors do not make that mistake. Shea and Hess do call it like they see it though and Freemasons beware, Albert Pike is not well treated.

The authors conclude with a look at the battle of Pea Ridge from a larger perspective. Many tactics used during this odd winter campaign would later become common practice for Union armies. Generals Grant and Sherman would take a large page from Curtis' play book when they in campaigns to come cut their supply lines and lived off of the land. As the authors point out, General Curtis does not get the credit he deserves for what he did at Pea Ridge. Things in Tennessee might have turned out very differently if the Federals had lost on that little ridge in Arkansas. To really understand the entire civil war, one must grasp what was going on in the west. To understand the west, one needs to grasp what happened at Pea Ridge. This book will go a long way in helping you reach that goal.

Rating:
Summary: Pea Ridge finally gets some publicity
Review: Although many, especially those who are not Civil War buffs, know little or nothing about the Battle of Pea Ridge, it was definitely a vital fight in the Civil War. After the Confederates lost Pea Ridge, the last hopes of bringing Missouri into the Confederacy were blown away "like dust in the wind." The campaign also left Federal General Curtis free to move into Arkansas. Mr. Shea's volume on this campaign brings Pea Ridge out of the shadows, and in fine style to boot.

Let me say that before reading this book, although being a dedicated Civil War buff, I knew very little about this battle. I also had never read a book written by Mr. Shea. His writing was great, and he clearly used many writings and diaries of the soldiers involved in the battle.

Next, and very important, were the maps. They were wonderful and plentiful. As in all battles, without these maps, the text would have been very hard to follow. Along with the maps came photos of commanders involved in the campaign, as well as modern photos of important sites across the battlefield, allowing the reader to see what kind of terrain the troops had to fight across in 1862.

I came away from this book feeling as though I knew this battle very much more well than before. For those of you out there who don't know much (or anything) about this campaign--and you're in a large group--buy this book. It is a priceless addition to my library.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Civil War History I've Read!!!!
Review: Being a native of Southern Missouri and growing up not too many miles from the Pea Ridge Battlefield, I may be biased, but in my opinion this is THE BEST work of Civil War history that I've read! Shea and Hess do a great job with background on the characters in the book and the descriptions of battle are chilling. Unlike many works on battles and war, "Pea Ridge" gives the full flavor of war. The writers did have the advantage of a perfectly sized battle that made it easier to cover in detail, but I give credit to their wrtiting and research for making this such a great book. Even if the Trans-Mississippi area of the Civil War is not a great interest to you, I would recommend this book. It's really that good!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: The Best Civil War History I've Read!!!!
Review: Being a native of Southern Missouri and growing up not too many miles from the Pea Ridge Battlefield, I may be biased, but in my opinion this is THE BEST work of Civil War history that I've read! Shea and Hess do a great job with background on the characters in the book and the descriptions of battle are chilling. Unlike many works on battles and war, "Pea Ridge" gives the full flavor of war. The writers did have the advantage of a perfectly sized battle that made it easier to cover in detail, but I give credit to their wrtiting and research for making this such a great book. Even if the Trans-Mississippi area of the Civil War is not a great interest to you, I would recommend this book. It's really that good!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: It will stand the test of time.....
Review: I brought this book at Pea Ridge National Battlefield and read while I was at the park and immediately afterward. I found the book to be superbly written, insightful and well researched. Its also a pretty entertaining book. While packed with information about the battle, the book never weighted you down and the authors keep the pace going until the very end. I enjoyed reading the book while sitting at the actual location which gave me some very insightful understanding of how the battle went. This book will probably stand the test of time as a standard book for this battle for the current generation and maybe beyond.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent campaign study of a little known battle
Review: Pea Ridge is a well crafted book which deals with an obscure but extremely important battle early in the Civil War. The authors present their story in a very engaging and readable style which gives a real sense of being on the frigid and tangled battlefield in Northwestern Arkansas. The two armies and their commanders are described in wonderful detail, and the action flows right from the start. After finishing the book, I was struck by just what Curtis and the Army of the Southwest had accomplished, and by how many precedents he had set for future operations. Nevertheless, his accomplishments have been largely ignored. This book helps rescue him from obscurity, and is without a doubt the definitive study of this battle. Pea Ridge is a fantastic book on the Trans-Mississippi theater of the war, and when read along with Cozzen's book on Iuka and Corinth, provides a very complete picture of the formation of Van Dorn's and Price's armies and their fate. I highly recommend this book as an essential volume on the Civil War in the West.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Read
Review: Shea and Hess do a wonderful job bringing to the reader the history of the understudied Trans-Mississippi campaign in the Civil War. The writing is fluid, conveys not only the historical picture but also the human picture. Furthermore, the use of numerous maps helps place the narrative in the proper perspective.

The writers excell at describing the leaders of both sides and the conflicts, bot internal and external, that they had to deal with. I was most interested in the ethnic divisions, between the Germman and native born Federals, and how that effected the cohesivness of the Union Army. General Curtis, who led the Union Army, was an amazing commander and performed feats that have unfortunately been too long ignored. From the initial decision to enter into a winter camapign, to the sucessful changing of fronts to confront the Confederate Army and finally to his masterful control of the battle, Curtis ranks with the great generals of the Civil War.

Rating:
Summary: Covering the Obscure
Review: The Trans-Missisippi and Western theaters of the Civil War have until now received short shrift. Shea and Hess have thrown a contender in the ring to offset that balance. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its narrative style, attention to detail without bogging down, the descriptions of primary characters in the campaign and for illuminating the dynamic forces and decisions that shaped the battle. Very readable. Their research and accuracy lays the foundation for a complete treatment of the Pea Ridge clash and brings it out of obscurity. If you're interested in Generals Curtis or Van Dorn or interested in Arkansas and Missouri Civil War history, then you will not be disappointed with this gem.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING
Review: This book is an awesome description of a forgotten campaign in an area which is forgotten by most Civil War buffs. The Transmississippi remaines one of the most unexplored areas in the Civil War knowlegde (literature) and this book brings a whole lot of light in it. "Pea Ridge : Civil War Campaign in the West", should be read especially by those who still believe that the Civil War took place between Malvern Hill and Shiloh. An estonishing piece of art !