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One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864 (American Crisis Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Gary Dillard Joiner
Publisher: SR Books
Category: Book
List Price: $30.95
Buy New: $19.42
You Save: $11.53 (37%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 489899
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 198
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.5
ISBN: 0842029370
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.736
EAN: 9780842029377
ASIN: 0842029370
Publication Date: December 20, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! 2002 Paperback.
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Product Description
In the spring of 1864, as the armies of Grant and Lee waged a highly scrutinized and celebrated battle for the state of Virginia, a no-less important, but historically obscured engagement was being conducted in the pine barrens of northern Louisiana. In a year of stellar triumphs by Union armies across the South, the Red River Campaign stands out as a colossal failure. General William Tecumseh Sherman's scathing summation describes it best, One damn blunder from beginning to end. Taking its title from Sherman's blunt description, One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864 is a fresh inspection of what was the Civil War's largest operation between the Union Army and Navy west of the Mississippi River. In a bold, but poorly managed effort to wrest Louisiana and Texas from Confederate control, a combined force of 40,000 Union troops and 60 naval vessels traveled up the twisting Red River in an attempt to capture the capital city of Shreveport. Gary D. Joiner provides not a recycled telling of the campaign, but a strategic and tactical overview based on a stunning new array of facts gleaned from recently discovered documents. This never-before-published information reveals that the Confederate army had laid a clever trap by engineering a drop in the water level of the Red River to try to maroon the Union naval flotilla. Only the equally amazing ingenuity of the Union troops saved the fleet from certain destruction, despite a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Mansfield. The Red River campaign had lasting implications. One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End magnifies just how devastating the diversion of so many men and so much material to this failed campaign was to the Union effort in the pivotal year of 1864. Because of the Union Army's failures, Northern plans to capture Mobile were scrapped. Military careers were made and lost. And at time when the Confederacy was teetering on the brink of oblivion, Southern morale was bolstered. Joiner puts together a compelling description of what was one of the most important military operations conducted west of the Mississippi. The fierce military action, the squabbling of the leaders on both sides, and most importantly, essential new knowledge of the Confederate defensive preparations are all contained in the pages of this new book. Civil War buffs and military enthusiasts will revel in this in-depth look at this critical, but previously overlooked campaign.
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent Campaign History February 2, 2005
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book proves that silly ideas, misunderstandings, stupidity and political expediency are not limited to our times. Mixing in a good deal of greed, a chance to capture large amounts of cotton, called white gold, can move along just about anything along. The Red River Campaign of 1864 qualifies for one of the best examples of this. The idea was to deal the CSA in the Trans-Mississippi a deathblow and drive them from northern Louisiana. 40,000 Union soldiers and 60 ships are to converge of the CSA forces at Shreveport. Lack of cooperation between the army and navy, poor communications and worse leadership resulted in a resounding defeat for the Union. The book shows that a resolute leader can succeed over odds, even if his superiors are not helpful.
This is a well-written book with maps in the right places. The author expects the reader to know nothing about the campaign and keeps us fully in the picture. This is an excellent campaign history and a good addition to your library.
Don't Mess With Texas! August 22, 2004
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is an excellent companion to the classic study of the Red River Campaign- Red River Campaign, Politics and Cotton in the Civil war by Ludwell H. Johnson.
The book doesn't go into great details about the battles but keeps it informative and interesting. The author does an excellent job setting up the battles and defenses of the campaign. Readable maps are provided which aid understanding of the battles, routes and terrain. I especially appreciate locations and descriptions of the smaller actions. I plan to visit all sites connected to the campaign in Louisana and Arkansas.
Scholars will need to read Ludwell H. Johnson's Red River Campaign for a complete understanding of the campaign. One Damn Blunder will aid this understanding and entertain.
The Yankees found the road to Texas a hard one to travel.
Another great volume in the American Crisis Series August 2, 2004
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
With so many Civil War books, anthologies, and videos out there, it's difficult for anyone who is not an expert on the subject to find a consistently reliable source of information about it. The American Crisis Series, for my taste, is that reliable source. And "One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864" is just another shining example of this series' remarkable and unique dependability.
Gary Dillard Joiner has given us a spectacular and comprehensive account of the extraordinary events in the spring of 1864, when thousands of Union troops and a mass of Union ships attempted to split and conquer the confederacy's troops along the Louisiana and Texas border. The resulting Union calamity and its implications for the war are painstakingly researched. But like other books in the series, this research is presented in a very readable way. I recommend this highly to anyone interested in the Civil War era.
A work of superb scholarship April 19, 2003
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End: The Red River Campaign Of 1864 by Gary Dillard Joiner (Louisiana State University - Shreveport) is an intense and focused study of the largest Union armed forces collaborative operation in the Civil War which took place in the spring of 1864 west of the Mississippi river against entrenched Confederate forces and involved between the 40,000 Union Army troops and 60 Union Naval vessels. The purpose of the engagement was to capture the capital city of Shreveport as part of the campaign to wrest Louisiana and Texas from Confederate control. Relating all of the critical aspects of the campaign including the rather spectacular errors made within it by the Union, One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End showcases a single campaign of the war that tore America in two. One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End is a work of superb scholarship and an important contribution to personal and academic Civil War Studies with its informative and informative treatment of an often overlooked but significant campaign.
A lot of knowledge in a short history February 7, 2003
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Want to learn a lot in a short period of time about one of the most under-publicized campaigns of the Civil War? Read "One Damn Blunder From Beginning to End - The Red River Campaign of 1864", by Gary D. Joiner. In this volume, Joiner combines his knowledge of the Civil War and his home of Louisiana, his talents as a cartographer, and his experience as an educator to create a very readable history of this event. Whether you are a long term Civil War buff, or just beginning your odyssey into this period of American history, or somewhere in between, you
will gain an understanding of what happened, why it happened, and, in some ways most important, why the history books devote so little print to this Union disaster.
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