THE CONFEDERATE MILITARY FORCES IN THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI WEST 1861-1865: A Study in Command

1-235000

Traces the evolution of Confederate command and how it affected the shifting strategic situation and general course of the ACW. Military field operations are discussed as needed, but the emphasis is on the functioning of headquarters and staff-the central nervous system of any military command. This was especially so for the Trans-Mississippi. Explains why this remote department (referred to as 'Kirby Smithdom' after Gen. Kirby Smith) failed to function efficiently, and how and why the war unfolded there as it did.

After July 1863, the only viable Confederate agency west of the great river was the headquarters at Shreveport. That hub of activity became the sole location to which all isolated players, civilians and military alike, could look for immediate overall leadership and a sense of Confederate solidarity. By filling these needs, the Trans-Mississippi Department assumed a unique and vital role among Confederate military departments and provided a focus for continued Confederate resistance west of the Mississippi River.