Confederate Patton: Richard Taylor And The Red River Campaign

ALEXANDER THE GREAT ONCE SAID he did not fear an army of lions led by a sheep, but he did fear an army of sheep led by a lion.Superbly equipped and lavishly supplied, and backed by the largest inland fleet in American history up to that point, the Union Army of the Gulf marched up the Red River Valley with 32,000 men. The Confederate Army of Western Louisiana met with 8,800 ragged veterans, possibly 1,000 parole violators, and no navy.In Confederate Patton, the Rebels are the good guys. Led by a lion named Richard Taylor, they threw themselves at the throats of the invaders, tore them limb from limb at Mansfield, routed their army, chased it 200 miles—all the way across Louisiana—surrounded it twice, and defeated it so badly it never threatened Confederate Louisiana again. Meanwhile, it cut off much of their fleet, forced it to shoot its way out, and inflicted such heavy losses on the Union Navy that it was delighted to escape at all, although it was forced to leave several of its vessels, including the largest and most powerful ironclad at the bottom of the Red River.Originally published as Richard Taylor and the Red River Campaign of 1864, this revised and expanded second edition, details one of the most surprising and humiliating defeats in United States' military history.Dr. Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr., is the author of more than 40 books and more than 100 articles, which have been translated into German, Italian, Polish, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, and other languages. He is a winner of the John Esten Cooke Literary Prize and holds the Jefferson Davis Gold Medal for excellence in the research and writing of Southern history. Read more