War in the Western Theater offers fresh perspectives on pivotal Civil War events, shedding light on overlooked battles and figures, revealing untold stories that reshape our understanding of this crucial region.

The Western Theater has long been pushed to the side by events in the Eastern Theater, but it was in the West where the Federal armies won the Civil War. Interest in this complex region is finally increasing, and the authors at Emerging Civil War add substantially to that growing body of literature with War in the Western Theater: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War.

Dozens of entries offer fresh and insightful aspects and angles to key events that unfolded between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River. Revisit an important Confederate charge at Shiloh, discover how key decisions won (and lost) the bloody fighting at Chickamauga, and ponder how whiskey may have impacted the fighting at Corinth. Readers will walk the battlefield at Fort Blakeley outside Mobile, fight in the hellish cedars at Stones River, and mourn with a Mississippi family. Insights abound. How many students of the war knew a Confederate major, watching the riverine bombardment of Fort Donelson up close and personal, rushed to send detailed sketches of the ironclads to Gen. Robert E. Lee to warn him of this new way of fighting—and the lethal dangers it portended?

And these are just a taste of what’s waiting inside.

The selections herein bring together the best scholarship from Emerging Civil War’s blog, symposia, and podcast, revised and updated, together with original pieces designed to shed new light and insight on some of the most important and fascinating events that have for too long flown under the radar of history’s pens.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Editors’ Note
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword David A. Powell
• Photographing the Western Theater Chris Heisey
• East vs. West Chris Kolakowski and Chris Mackowski
• On the Eve of War: Charleston, South Carolina Sarah Kay Bierle
• The Bullard Boys: Tragedy for a Mississippi Family Sheritta Bitikofer
• The Fall of Fort Henry and the Changing of Confederate Strategy Kevin Pawlak
• George Washington Rains, the Augusta Powder Works, and Forts Henry and Donelson: How Union Riverine Warfare Almost Ended the Civil War in 1862 Theodore P. Savas
• Persistence of the Mardi Gras Spirit in Civil War New Orleans Neil P. Chatelain
• The 25th Missouri Infantry at Shiloh Kristen M. Trout
• Shiloh: Preston Pond’s Charge at Tilghman Branch Sean Michael Chick
• David Reed: Shiloh’s Veteran Historian Kevin P. Pawlak
• Rock Star Egos and the Army of Tennessee’s Most Important Inferiority Complex Chris Mackowski
• “New Orleans Gone and With It the Confederacy”: The Fall of New Orleans Patrick Kelly-Fischer
• The Battle of Memphis and Its Fallen Federal Leader Chris Mackowski
• What If . . .Vicksburg Had Fallen in July ‘62? Dwight Hughes
• The Great March From Cumberland Gap Chris Kolakowski
• Whiskey and War: The Case of Joseph Mower at the Battle of Corinth Daniel T. Davis
• Finding Miss Susie Sheritta Bitikofer
• True Courage: The 44th Mississippi at Stones River Robert M. Dunkerly
• A Comanche Fighter Rides to His Waterloo at Murfreesboro Brian Swartz
• Boomerang Bragg Robert M. Dunkerly
• The Purge of the Second Louisiana Native Guards Neil P. Chatelain
• The Bangor Connections to Grierson’s Raid Brian Swartz
• “The Prison Over the Pearl River at Jackson, Mississippi, Where Union Prisoners Have Been Confined.” Chris Mackowski
• Capt. Samuel Jones Ridley at the Battle of Champion Hill Kevin Pawlak
• Arkansas’s Role in the Vicksburg Campaign Carson Butler
• Enslaved During a Siege Sarah Kay Bierle
• The Fall of Vicksburg: Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion JoAnna M. McDonald
• Johnston vs. Johnston Chris Mackowski, Greg Mertz, Angela M. Riotto, and Kristopher D. White
• Turning Point: Assault on Battery Wagner by the 54th Massachusetts Phillip S. Greenwalt
• Decisions at Chickamauga Chris Mackowski, David A. Powell, and Dan Welch
• The Man in the Corner: Anson Stager David A. Powell
• Tactical Innovations in the Civil War? David T. Dixon
• Pensacola’s Advanced Redoubt Sheritta Bitikofer
• Captured at Missionary Ridge: The “Traitor” Vice President’s Son Sarah Kay Bierle
• Missed Opportunity? The Confederates’ Lost Chance at Chattanooga Patrick Kelly-Fischer
• Chattanooga: More Than Just Another Victory for Grant William Lee White
• Longstreet Goes West David A. Powell
• Franklin: “I Never Saw the Dead Lay Near so Thick.” Ryan T. Quint
• The Army of Tennessee: Elegy at Franklin Robert Lee Hodge
• A Very Ugly Episode: The Battle of the Cedars William Lee White
• Forgetting Nashville Sean Michael Chick
• “The Uproar of the Damned Was About Us”: The Battle of Spanish Fort William Lee White
• Walking the Battlefield at Fort Blakeley, Mobile, Alabama Sheritta Bitikofer
• The Last Confederate Fort and the Last Confederate General William Lee White
• The Second City Chris Kolakowski
• In Search of the Dreaded Andersonville Derek D. Maxfield
• Space in the Western Theater Phillip S. Greenwalt
• Contributors’ Notes
• Postscript