HISTORY:
** On April 17, 1863 Benjamin Grierson led a force of 1,700 Union cavalrymen across enemy lines into Confederate-held Tennessee in a bold diversionary raid. Over the next seventeen days, Grierson's horsemen caused havoc by destroying railroad lines, attacking outposts, burning military stores and fighting numerous small actions, before breaking back through the lines at Baton Rouge. The raid was a tremendous success, not only by virtue of the destruction it caused, but also because the Confederates were forced to divert thousands of troops away from the front lines during General Grant's critical Vicksburg offensive. This book tells the complete story of one of the most daring Union raids of the war. **
** Quoted from the Osprey Publishing website.
THE BOOK:
Osprey Publications has released Roughshod Through Dixie, Grierson’s Raid 1863 as Number 12 in their Raid series. It is a soft cover book with 80 pages and is the standard Osprey Publishing size of 7 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches. Included with the text are black and white and color photographs, full color illustrations, 3-dimensional ‘bird’s-eye-views’, detailed captions and more. It has a 2010 copyright, a publication date of July 10, 2010, and the ISBN is 978-1-8460-3993-5.
THE CONTENTS:
Introduction
Origins
Initial Strategy
The Plan
The Raid
Analysis
Conclusion
Bibliography
THE TEXT:
Author Mark Lardas has written an excellent history about the actions to destroy Confederate railroads, telegraph lines and supply depots as well as other targets of opportunity as well as drawing Confederate forces away from their current locations and draw them to the areas where the raid was taking place by the men of the Union Cavalry under Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson operating under the request of Major General Ulysses S. Grant to “Do some mischief” during the American Civil War in 1863. The text goes into very specific detail in all areas of the book as outlined on the contents page, please refer to the contents listing that I have provided for the subjects that are covered throughout the book. The author details and discusses every aspect of the mission from the planning that went into the raid, what the goal of the raid was to be, how the raiders’ prepared for the mission, the events before, during and after the raid, what went according to plan, what didn’t go according to plan and what enemy actions affected various incidents during the raid as well as the overall mission. In addition to discussing the actions before, during and after the raid, the author also details the personal histories of some of the key players as well as subjects such as the cavalryman’s equipment, to include their weapons, and what was normally carried during operations as opposed to what Grierson requested the men to carry with them during the raid. Some information I found to be particularly interesting that was provided by the author, after detailing the success of the mission, was the technical numbers provided discussing what the members of the raid returned with as opposed to what they started out with. At the end of the mission, in addition to the Illinois troopers themselves, the column had nearly 1000 runaway black slaves, over 30 wagons which included buggies and lumber wagons, and 400 Confederate prisoners of war and 800 more horses and mules than they had started with. The numbers alone help detail the success of the raid. Along with his own words, Mark Lardas has also provided quotes from key individuals such as Major General Ulysses S. Grant and Sergeant Surby, a Union participant in Grierson’s Raid. The text in the book is nicely written and well detailed. As I read through the text, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings. As a reader that knew nothing about Grierson’s Raid, I found myself to be well informed on the subject upon finishing the book. Anyone wanting to add an excellent reference and history book on the Union Cavalry’s actions during Grierson’s Raid in 1863 during the American Civil War to their personal library will be pleased with this very informative and interesting book.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS:
A total of 26 black and white photographs and 5 color photographs are included in this volume. The photographs range from wide angle photographs to close-up detailed photographs. Some of the photographs are profile studio portraits of uniformed individuals. With the exception of the color photographs on Page 24 and Page 29, the photographs included are period photographs or are photographs of period drawings and sketches specific to the events discussed. The majority of the photographs are clear and easily viewable; however, a few have an out-of-focus appearance, and some appear to be too dark, and others appear too light. This is typical for the discussed period of history, and the quality of a few of the photographs is no fault of the author and does not take anything away from the book. Author Mark Lardas stuck to the title of the book and chose subject specific photographs and did not include photographs that strayed from the main subject. The majority, if not all, of the photographs will prove to be excellent reference material due to the details they contain. The American Civil War historian and enthusiast will benefit from the excellent photographs as will anyone that is interested in Grierson’s Raid in 1863 during the American Civil War.
THE ILLUSTRATIONS:
There are 2 illustrations included in the volume. The illustrations are very well done, nicely detailed and are of:
Plate A
Union Cavalryman
- A one-page full color illustration of a Union cavalryman in full battle dress along with his horse and equipment. Also shown are right-hand views of a Sharp’s Carbine and a Colt revolving rifle.
Plate B
Tickfaw River Bridge
- A two-page full color action illustration showing Union Colonel Blackburn and Union forces attacking Confederate pickets that are guarding a bridge over the Tickfaw River.
THE CAPTIONS:
The captions are well written and explain the accompanying photographs and illustrations in great detail, eliminating any doubt as to what is shown. The captions go into very specific detail as to the specific individuals shown and their military rank, artist’s names, weapon types, river names, dates and locations and other such pertinent information. As I read through the captions, I did find some errors such as “field kitchens had be abandoned” and “He is show here in a postwar photograph”. Mark Lardas’s captions are very helpful to the reader due to their detailed content as opposed to other captions that I have seen that are very brief and lacking in detail.
THE MAP:
There is one full-colored map by Bounford.com included in this volume. The map comes with two detailed keys as well as a map/cartographic distance scale. The map is of:
Confederate Troop Concentrations
- The map shows the locations of nine different locations under Confederate control and the movements of four different Union units commanded by General Smith, General Grierson, Captain Forbes and Colonel Hatch.
THE 3D BIRDS-EYE-VIEWS:
There are two 3-dimensional ‘bird’s-eye-views’ by Alan Gilliland included in this volume. Both of the ‘bird’s-eye-views’ have two separate columns detailing in chronological order the actions of the Union forces and the Confederate forces. The ‘bird’s-eye-views’ are of:
- Enterprise, April 25, 1863
- Shown are the actions taken when Captain Henry Forbes brought Company B of the Seventh Illinois to Enterprise, Mississippi in search of Grierson's brigade, which he had been told was heading there.
- Hazelhurst, April 27, 1863
- Shown are the actions taken when Union Lieutenant Colonel Blackburn entered Hazelhurst, Mississippi with the intention of ambushing an arriving train.
CONCLUSION:
As with the other Osprey Publishing titles I was impressed with this book. This is a very nice reference book that contains a well written informative text, many subject specific photographs and illustrations, well detailed captions and more, all detailing the Grierson’s Raid in 1863 during the American Civil War. As with the other Osprey Publishing titles, I have no hesitation recommending this book to others as it will be a welcome addition to one’s personal library.
Osprey Publishing also offers Roughshod Through Dixie, Grierson’s Raid 1863 as:
Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ISBN: 978-1-7809-6344-0
and
Ebook (PDF) ISBN: 978-1-8460-3994-2
Osprey Publishing’s, Roughshod Through Dixie, Grierson’s Raid 1863 is also available as a Kindle version through Amazon.
PRICE:
UK £15.99 / US $21.00 / CAN $30.00
This book was provided to me by Osprey Publishing. Please mention that you saw the book reviewed here on the KitMaker Network when making your purchase. Thank you.