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civil war horse soldiers real horse vicksburg campaign timothy smith benjamin grierson john wayne newton station savas beatie griersons raid mississippi river baton rouge well written highly recommend southern railroad colonel benjamin river south union cavalry reads like south of vicksburg
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L. Dugan
5.0 out of 5 stars Civil War's Greatest Cavalry Raid
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2018
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When I was a boy one of most fondest memories was when my father took me to the local movie theater and we saw John Ford's epic CW movie "Horse Soldiers". I remember how I was on the edge of my seat and how I bombarded my father with questions afterwards. This story has always been a favorite of mine and it was only much later did I find out that it was based on a true story of the raid.
This work gets in to how the raid was conceived as part of Grant's efforts to seize Vicksburg. Other diversions were put into play that diverted Confederate attention from Grant's move west of Vicksburg and scattered different cavalry detachments so that Grierson's raid was able to drive deep into Mississippi and destroy the main railway into Vicksburg at Newton Station. Grierson skillful use of smaller diversionary raids from within his command continually kept the Confederates off balance and chasing ghosts. By pushing his men he was able to successfully reach Baton Rouge, Louisiana with very few losses. The author explains the moves on a daily basis and gets into personalities of the officers both North and South.
This is a great read and completes my love of this story that was first made on a Saturday afternoon with my Dad so long ago. I strongly recommend this book!
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Steven PetersonTop Contributor: Baseball
VINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 stars The famous raid and its effect
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2019
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Many have heard of Grierson's Raid--through Mississippi, wreaking havoc on Confederate targets, ending up returning to Union lines at Baton Rouge. This book does an excellent job of describing the raid--but also of placing it in a strategic context at this critical stage in the Civil War.

Larger picture. General Ulysses Grant chose an unorthodox--and dangerous--strategy to invest Vicksburg. He would send his Union forces down the Mississippi below Vicksburg. Then, have his troops cross the river from west to the eastern side to get on dry land south of Vicksburg. Again, a fraught option. To try to deceive the Confederates and confuse them as to Grant's actual moves, several raids and other actions were taken. One of these was for Colonel Grierson to take a brigade (3 regiments) of cavalry on a long raid through Mississippi.

This volume uses archived resources and provides the reader with a rich telling of this tale. A real threat to the raid was that the further south it went, the more Confederates were determined to catch up with them. Some very helpful maps illustrate the various efforts by southern forces to thwart the raid--as well as Grierson's efforts to avoid those forces.

There is much good detail on key actions, such as the attack on Newton Station and damage done to the southern cause. There were some close calls for the raiders, but Grierson developed clever ploys to throw their pursuers off.

All in all, a fine book about a raid that well served larger purposes. . . .
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Jim Carone--Capt.
5.0 out of 5 stars For me a Griersons raid book is a must have.
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2018
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HB w DJ//flat white pages//345 pages//37 bw photos//13 maps. Always an interesting story, will look forward to Tim Smiths rendition. This is my ninth book on the raid.******* Further reading--the magazine BLUE and GRAY vol.10 issue 5 dedicated the issue to the raid. Did a nice story on it and followed up in the second section with photos from today,Sort of like AFTER the BATTLE magazine. Well worth it if you can find it.- .... jim
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Raymond C
4.0 out of 5 stars Sticking it to the Confederates - worth a read
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2019
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An historical account of the dramatization represented in the film "Horse Soldiers" with John Wayne and William Holden (and Althea Gibson). This raid, deep into the heart of the Confederacy, led by Colonel Benjamin Grierson as a diversion to distract Confederate attention from the maneuverings of Grant on the final assault on Vicksburg is presented in a readable form that extolls the complexities of carrying out such a raid and the tireless efforts by the Union officers and soldiers to successfully achieve the objectives. Not lost on the author is that the Union troops took great care to minimize damage to civilian's property and health. It is noted, almost as an after thought, how few casualties the Union troops suffered on their 16 day sortied through central Mississippi. Additionally, he provides amusing anecdotes of Confederates confusing the Union soldier for "their boys" even though all but "scouts" were wearing Union blue. {In some respects Grierson is the US land equivalent of the British naval commander Lord Cochrane.} There are a few times that the author repeats himself as to the whole strategy of the operation, but the information garnered is worth brushing that negative aside. This author further promotes the idea of Grant being a superior strategist of the war even including examples of his actions that were not codified into the military curriculum until 40 years after the Civil War. If you have interest in the Civil War time period it is worth a read.
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DaveBradley
5.0 out of 5 stars A superb account of a remarkable story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2019
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The Vicksburg Campaign was a remarkable and multi-faceted affair. Several schemes were employed to draw Confederate attention away from General Grant's main aim of taking Vicksburg.
One of these schemes was Grierson's Raid. Greirson and his men took off from La Grange Tennessee and made their way south through Mississippi. Thry had two purposes. To cause as much destruction as possible to anything that would aid the South, especially railways. The second as mentioned before, was to distract Confederate attention away from Grant.
The raid itself was multi-faceted and Grierson did a brilliant job.
Timothy Smith also did a brilliant job in telling the story of the raid so well tbat it ix as exciting as a top class novel but is also true to the events as they happened.
A splendid read.
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Dave the Rave
5.0 out of 5 stars John Wayne' couldn't have done it better
Reviewed in Canada on April 8, 2019
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This a well researched, excitingly written history of an improbably successful campaign. A true page turner with on the run decision making, last minute escapes, and an unlikely pianist. Thankful, the author avoided any hint of the bogus "it wasn't about protecting slavery, it was about state's rights" argument put forth by Shelby Foote/Ken Burns.
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