Red River Campaign: Politics and Cotton in the Civil War.

Abstract

THE w RITER Ho PE s that this study has accomplished several purposes.First, the Red River expedition should help to illustrate the fact that the campaigns of the Civil War often sprang from a complex set of circumstances sometimes wholly nonmilitary in nature.It is in the origins of campaigns that the forces causing and sustaining a war frequently become ap parent.Second, the military history of the war west of the Mississippi has been very much neglected, and this study is designed to fill one of the larger gaps.The third purpose has been the solution of an intricate and not unimportant problem that caused considerable stir in its day: the question of cot ton dealings and speculations in Louisiana during the spring of 1864, especially those connected with the Red River expedition.And it is also hoped that this narrative may provide additional insight into the characters of some of the period's leading figures.A word of explanation concerning some of the maps is in order.Due to the inadequacy of contemporary maps, both in number and quality, troop positions in the sketches illustrating the engagements at Sabine Crossroads, Pleasant Hill, and Monett's Ferry are approximate only; this is especially true of Sabine Crossroads.In some instances movements and posi tions were reconstructed from written reports.However, guess work was held to an absolute minimum; the maps in question are believed to be reasonably accurate in all essential details.

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