Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1156023 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

Review
ÝA ssured of a place among the best of all studies that have been published on Civil War campaigns.

"American Historical Review"

Synopsis
The first definitive study of a Civil War battle in the Trans-Mississippi shows how the battle of Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas dramatically altered the balance of power and helped ensure Union victory.

Customer Reviews

A Model for Modern Military History
This book is one of the best on a Civil War campaign to appear in many years. Beautifully organized and written, the volume takes the reader through a maze of complexities that have been clarified by the authors to an amazing extent. Anyone setting out to write a campaign history would be well advised to take a look at Shea's and Hess's work first. Anyone looking for a good read need look no further.

Front and center with the best
In June of 2006, I reviewed Champion Hill, which I stated was "unequivocally, the best non-fiction narrative of a Civil War engagement that I've ever read." PEA RIDGE steps forward front and center to join that most excellent volume at the head of the rest.

The Battle of Pea Ridge, fought on March 7-8, 1862 in the northwest corner of Arkansas, was the decisive Union victory in the Trans-Mississippi theater of operations. It assured Federal control of Missouri and, for all practical purposes, eliminated the Trans-Mississippi as a significant factor in Confederate war strategy.

The confrontation between the Union army, commanded by Brig. Gen. Samuel Curtis, and the rebel force, commanded by Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, is lucidly described by authors William Shea and Earl Hess. Most importantly, in my opinion, the narrative is supported by a series of superlative battlefield maps that remain completely congruent with the text throughout. At no point should the reader become confused or otherwise lack a clear understanding of the maneuvers on the field by the units involved, generally defined down to regimental level.

PEA RIDGE is further elevated by the personality portraits drawn of the principal commanders, chiefly Curtis, Van Dorn, and the erratic U.S. Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel. It's the effort the authors take in this regard that transforms the book from a dry read to one that's to be savored.

The volume is liberally sprinkled with black and white photographs of the various unit commanders and views of the present-day terrain as can be seen by visitors to the Pea Ridge National Military Park. An Appendix also incorporates a complete Order of Battle that includes known losses, i.e. killed, wounded, and missing.

Sherman's March to the Sea is famously notable for the fact that he severed his army group from its supply base as it cut a swathe through Georgia to the Atlantic. What PEA RIDGE emphasizes, and which I didn't know and popular Civil War history has pretty much ignored, is the fact that Curtis successfully took that same daring risk with his Army of the Southwest - the first Federal army to do so - in the summer of 1862 on a march of several hundred miles from Batesville, AK to the Mississippi River.

PEA RIDGE is a book eminently worth the attention of any serious or casual student of the War Between the States.

Excellent on troop movements and positons
This was one of the better books I've read that dealt with a single battle. The authors organized this somewhat unorganized battle in a way that was fairly easy to follow. The description of each armies campaigns before and after the battle helped made a great setting. Map illustrations were not the best. The authors strived for historical accuracy on an overlooked battle.