The Real Horse Soldiers

Benjamin Grierson’s Epic 1863 Civil War Raid Through Mississippi

By: Timothy B. Smith

Narrated by: Ben Collins

Benjamin Grierson’s Union cavalry thrusting through Mississippi is one of the most well-known operations of the Civil War. The last serious study was published more than six decades ago. Since then, other accounts have appeared, but none are deeply researched full-length studies of the raid and its more-than-substantial (and yet often overlooked) results. The publication of Timothy B. Smith’s The Real Horse Soldiers: Benjamin Grierson’s Epic 1863 Civil War Raid Through Mississippi rectifies this oversight.

There were other simultaneous operations to distract Confederate attention from the real threat posed by US Grant’s Army of the Tennessee. Grierson’s operation, however, mainly conducted with two Illinois cavalry regiments, has become the most famous, and for good reason: For 16 days (April 17 to May 2) Grierson led Confederate pursuers on a high-stakes chase through the entire state of Mississippi, entering the Northern border with Tennessee and exiting its Southern border with Louisiana. The daily rides were long, the rest stops short, and the tension high. Ironically, the man who led the raid was a former music teacher who some say disliked horses. Throughout, he displayed outstanding leadership and cunning, destroyed railroad tracks, burned trestles and bridges, freed slaves, and created as much damage and chaos as possible.

Grierson’s Raid broke a vital Confederate rail line at Newton Station that supplied Vicksburg and, perhaps most importantly, consumed the attention of the Confederate high command. While Confederate Lt. Gen. John Pemberton at Vicksburg and other Southern leaders looked in the wrong directions, Grant moved his entire Army of the Tennessee across the Mississippi River below Vicksburg, spelling the doom of that city, the Confederate chances of holding the river, and perhaps the Confederacy itself.

Novelists have attempted to capture the large-than-life cavalry raid in the popular imagination, and Hollywood reproduced the daring cavalry action in The Horse Soldiers, a 1959 major motion picture starring John Wayne and William Holden. Although the film replicates the raid’s drama and high-stakes gamble, cinematic license chipped away at its accuracy.

Based upon years of research and presented in gripping, fast-paced prose, Timothy B. Smith’s The Real Horse Soldiers captures the high drama and tension of the 1863 horse soldiers in a modern, comprehensive, academic study. Listeners will find it fills a wide void in Civil War literature.

©2018 Savas Beatie (P)2018 Savas Beatie

The critical importance and details of this calvary raid to the success of General Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign.

Excellent accounting of the most daring and successful calvary raid of the entire Civil War. A must read for anyone interested in the complete story of the Vicksburg Campaign.

Poor knowledge of pronuncuation

the s IP Illinois is silent. Cairo IL is pronounced
Kay Ro. The author must have learned this, passed it on, and wa is ignored

what a raid

amazing story and a well thought out raid. I've heard of the raid in a pod cast, but I'm very glad I got your book.

Please Learn How to Pronounce Illinois

This is the worst reading of a book I have ever experienced. The reader mispronounces words left and right. The worst is the pronunciation of the State of Illinois. It is not "Illi - noise."! And people from the State are not "Illi - noise - ians." Unfortunately, Grierson is from Illinois and he led an Illinois unit so this slaughtering of the name is rampant. Grierson's Raid is one of the best stories of the Civil War. The book is well researched and written. The "performance" is painful!

Narration Needs Help

Good content but the narration made this audio book close to unbearable. Narrator Collins thinks Illinois is pronounced Illin Noise. Audible producers need to find someone with at least an 8th grade educations.