{"product_id":"the-real-horse-soldiers-benjamin-griersons-epic-1863-civil-war-raid-through-mississippi-9781611214284","title":"The Real Horse Soldiers: Benjamin Griersons Epic 1863 Civil War Raid Through Mississippi","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinner  2018  Operational \/ Battle History  Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Book Award Winner  2018  Fletcher Pratt Literary Award  Civil War Round Table of New York  Benjamin Griersons Union cavalry thrust 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. Smiths The Real Horse Soldiers: Benjamin Griersons 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 U. S. Grants Army of the Tennessee. Griersons 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.  Griersons 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 raids 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. Smiths The Real Horse Soldiers captures the high drama and tension of the 1863 horse soldiers in a modern  comprehensive  academic study. Readers will find it fills a wide void in Civil War literature.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67636863238197,"sku":"ByrdShop_1611214289","price":71.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781611214284_9235cfef-80a6-4309-bb3a-27f517361608.jpg?v=1791557254","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-real-horse-soldiers-benjamin-griersons-epic-1863-civil-war-raid-through-mississippi-9781611214284","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}