ABOUT THIS BOOK

Offers a case study of a segment of American society that consumed itself by surrendering everything in pursuit of unattainable military victory

With the surrender of Vicksburg in July 1863, the Confederacy’s TransMississippi Department, which included Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, western Louisiana, and Indian Territory, was cut off from the remainder of the South. Robert Kerby’s insightful volume, originally published in 1972, “has gone far toward filling one of the most conspicuous gaps in the literature on the Confederacy,” according to The Journal of Southern History.

Kerby investigates the many factors that led to the Department’s disintegrating and offers a case study of a segment of American society that consumed itself by surrendering everything, including its principles and ideals, in pursuit of an unattainable military victory.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Robert L. Kerby is Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame.

REVIEWS

“A standard in Civil War library collections”
—CHOICE
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“The research is excellent, reflecting a wide use of both manuscripts and printed materials. . . . A great strength of the book stems from Kerby’s decision to use a broad brush, examining the military, social, political, and economic facets of the Confederate states beyond the Mississippi. Few books attempt to cover so much ground. . . . This book remains by far the best treatment of the subject.”
—Gary W. Gallagher, Pennsylvania State University

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS

Preface

1.
The Trans-Mississippi South, 1861–1863

2.
The Home Front, 1861–1863

3.
The Loss of the Mississippi Valley

4.
King Cotton

5.
Summer and Autumn Campaigns, 1863

6.
The Home Front After Vicksburg

7.
The Red River and Camden Campaigns, 1864

8.
The Closing Campaigns, 1864

9.
The Collapse of the Trans-Mississippi, 1865

Notes

Bibliography

Index