"Examines the campaigns and battles that occurred during 1862 in the vast region between the Appalachian Mountains in the east and the Mississippi River in the west, and from the Ohio River in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south" --publisher.

Includes 8 maps and numerous other illustrations The Mississippi River had figured prominently in the North’s strategic planning from the outset of the war. In May 1861, then-General in Chief of the U.S. Army Winfield Scott had drafted the so-called Anaconda Plan. Scott had proposed that the Federal armed forces squeeze the life out of the Confederacy by blockading the Southern coastline and launching an amphibious thrust down the Mississippi. He had argued that his plan would end the war with minimal bloodshed, conveniently ignoring the fact that it would take years for the North to build a sufficient navy. President Abraham Lincoln thought the Anaconda Plan had merit, but he knew that the Army would have to play a far more active role than Scott had envisioned—especially in Kentucky and Missouri—where Unionist and secessionist forces were already maneuvering for power. Lincoln was determined not only to keep the two crucial border states in the Union, but to rescue eastern Tennessee. One senator, Andrew Johnson, and one congressman, Horace Maynard, from that region remained in Washington to represent their Unionist supporters. On 4 August, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, the Army of the Potomac’s new commander, presented his own strategic plan for the West that accorded with Lincoln’s wishes yet proved more elaborate. He recommended a grand campaign involving two western armies—one based in Kentucky and the other in Missouri. The first army would divide into two columns in order to capture eastern Tennessee and Nashville. They would reunite at Chattanooga and proceed to Atlanta and then Montgomery, Alabama. After gaining control of Missouri, the second army would launch an amphibious expedition down the Mississippi River and seize New Orleans. All that remained was for the president to find generals willing and able to put these ambitious plans into action.

In The Civil War in the Western Theater, 1862, author Charles R. Bowery Jr. examines the campaigns and battles that occurred during 1862 in the vast region between the Appalachian Mountains in the east and the Mississippi River in the west, and from the Ohio River in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. Notable battles discussed include Mill Springs, Kentucky; Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee; Shiloh, Tennessee; Perryville, Kentucky; Corinth and Iuka, Mississippi; and Stones River, Tennessee.

"Von Drehle has chosen a critical year ('the most eventful year in American history' and the year Lincoln rose to greatness), done his homework, and written a spirited account."N"Publishers Weekly."

“May well be the best, most perceptive and authoritative account of the Battle of Shiloh.” —The Weekly Standard The bloody and decisive two-day battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862 changed the entire course of the American Civil War. The stunning Northern victory thrust Union commander Ulysses S. Grant into the national spotlight, claimed the life of Confederate commander Albert S. Johnston, and forever buried the notion that the Civil War would be a short conflict. The conflagration had its roots in the strong Union advance during the winter of 1861-1862 that resulted in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee. The offensive collapsed General Johnston’s advanced line in Kentucky and forced him to withdraw all the way to northern Mississippi. Anxious to attack the enemy, Johnston began concentrating Southern forces at Corinth, a major railroad center just below the Tennessee border. His bold plan called for his Army of the Mississippi to march north and destroy General Grant’s Army of the Tennessee before it could link up with another Union army on the way to join him. On the morning of April 6, Johnston boasted to his subordinates, “Tonight we will water our horses in the Tennessee!” They nearly did so. Johnston’s sweeping attack hit the unsuspecting Federal camps at Pittsburg Landing and routed the enemy from position after position as they fell back toward the Tennessee River. Johnston’s death in the Peach Orchard, however, coupled with stubborn Federal resistance, widespread confusion, and Grant’s dogged determination to hold the field, saved the Union army from destruction. The arrival of General Don C. Buell’s reinforcements that night turned the tide of battle. The next day, Grant seized the initiative and attacked, driving the Confederates from the field. Shiloh was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war, with nearly 24,000 killed, wounded, and missing. Edward Cunningham, a young Ph.D. candidate, researched and wrote Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 in 1966. Though it remained unpublished, many Shiloh experts and park rangers consider it the best overall examination of the battle ever written. Indeed, Shiloh historiography is just now catching up with Cunningham, who was decades ahead of modern scholarship. Now, Western Civil War historians Gary Joiner and Timothy Smith have resurrected this beautifully written, deeply researched manuscript from undeserved obscurity. Fully edited and richly annotated with updated citations and observations, original maps, and a complete order of battle and table of losses, it represents battle history at its finest.

The Army of Tennessee was officially designated November 20, 1862. But that was not the beginning of the Confederate main fighting force in the Civil War's Western Theater. Before that date it was known as the Army of Mississippi (or the Army of the West), a command organized on March 5, with its area of operations between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. That army was formed of the Army of Central Kentucky, the Army of Louisiana and elements of the Army of Pensacola, following the Confederate disaster at Fort Donelson. The force was led by a succession of commoners--P.G.T. Beauregard, Albert Sydney Johnston and Braxton Bragg--and had a series of defeats, from Shiloh to Corinth to Perryville, before winning a spectacular victory at Chickamauga. Based on the Official Records, this book details the often neglected army's organization, strength and casualties during its three year history.