Synopses & Reviews
"With an exhaustive array of archival materials, insightful analysis, and good writing. . . .
Fields of Blood provides readers with a concise, illuminating look at a forgotten fight. . . . A model campaign study which draws on as many of the scarce resources available to make sense of what today is still a very confusing battle. . . . Students of the Trans-Missippi and those who enjoy solidly constructed and easy to read campaign studies will want to own this book. Those who enjoyed Shea's earlier work on Pea Ridge will doubtless appreciate this effort equally."
-TOCWOC: A Civil War Blog "Shea brings to his work a great deal of familiarity with the campaign . . . enjoyable and insightful. . . . Will stand as the standard account of the Prairie Grove campaign, which, thanks to Shea, no longer resides in underserved obscurity."
-Arkansas Historical Quarterly "Thoroughly researched and engagingly written. . . . Shea's ability to illuminate the interconnections among strategy, logistics, and geography is especially noteworthy. . . . An excellent study of an important but often overlooked campaign."
-Annals of Iowa "A first rate history of this remote part of the Civil War."
-Blue & Gray Magazine "Anyone interested in Civil War military operations should read this book."
-The Journal of America's Military Past "Combined with excellent maps, Shea's description of the operational maneuvers and his detailing of the tactical actions are masterful. . . . A superb account of a signature campaign of the theater."
-Journal of Military History "The definitive study of an important campaign that heretofore has not received the scholarly attention its significance merits. . . . A fascinating analysis of the personal, geographical, and strategic elements that led to the fateful clash in northwest Arkansas."
-McCormick Messenger "If further proof were needed of William L. Shea's mastery of the Civil War campaign history, this is it. . . . He has attained even loftier heights with a thoughtful and meticulous account of Prairie Grove."
-Civil War Book Review "William Shea set the standard for campaign narrative in his classic work Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West. In Fields of Blood, he has raised the bar and established himself as the foremost historian on the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi. Smooth. Polished. Riveting!"
-Terrence J. Winschel, historian, Vicksburg National Military Park, author of Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign, Vols. 1-2
Review
"William Shea set the standard for campaign narrative in his classic work
Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West. In
Fields of Blood, he has raised the bar and established himself as the foremost historian on the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi. Smooth. Polished. Riveting!"
-Terrence J. Winschel, historian, Vicksburg National Military Park, author of Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign, Vols. 1-2
Review
"The definitive study of an important campaign that heretofore has not received the scholarly attention its significance merits. . . . A fascinating analysis of the personal, geographical, and strategic elements that led to the fateful clash in northwest Arkansas."
-McCormick Messenger
Review
"If further proof were needed of William L. Shea's mastery of the Civil War campaign history, this is it. . . . He has attained even loftier heights with a thoughtful and meticulous account of Prairie Grove."
-Civil War Book Review
Review
"With an exhaustive array of archival materials, insightful analysis, and good writing. . . .
Fields of Blood provides readers with a concise, illuminating look at a forgotten fight. . . . A model campaign study which draws on as many of the scarce resources available to make sense of what today is still a very confusing battle. . . . Students of the Trans-Missippi and those who enjoy solidly constructed and easy to read campaign studies will want to own this book. Those who enjoyed Shea's earlier work on Pea Ridge will doubtless appreciate this effort equally."
-TOCWOC: A Civil War Blog
Review
"Shea brings to his work a great deal of familiarity with the campaign . . . enjoyable and insightful. . . . Will stand as the standard account of the Prairie Grove campaign, which, thanks to Shea, no longer resides in underserved obscurity."
-Arkansas Historical Quarterly
Review
"Thoroughly researched and engagingly written. . . . Shea's ability to illuminate the interconnections among strategy, logistics, and geography is especially noteworthy. . . . An excellent study of an important but often overlooked campaign."
-Annals of Iowa
Review
"A first rate history of this remote part of the Civil War."
-Blue and Gray Magazine
Review
"Combined with excellent maps, Shea's description of the operational maneuvers and his detailing of the tactical actions are masterful. . . . A superb account of a signature campaign of the theater."
-Journal of Military History
Review
"Anyone interested in Civil War military operations should read this book."
-The Journal of America's Military Past
Review
"Shea cogently unravels the campaign he calls one of the war's 'best-kept secrets.'"
-Military History of the West
Review
"Making ample use of firsthand accounts to describe the battle's various stages, Shea leaves his audience feeling cold, hungry, exhausted, scared, and lucky to be alive, all without sacrificing the narrative's flow--an impressive feat for a scholarly study. . . .
Fields of Blood stands as a model for future studies."
-The Journal of Southern History
Review
"A fine addition to the growing body of literature on the long-neglected Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War....A model campaign study, and it will become the standard work on the subject."
-North Carolina Historical Review
Review
"This is a sound and thorough study. It should stand as the benchmark work on Prairie Grove for at least the next decade."--
-H-Net Reviews
Synopsis
Shea offers a gripping narrative of the events surrounding Prairie Grove, Arkansas, one of the great unsung battles of the Civil War that effectively ended Confederate offensive operations west of the Mississippi River. Shea provides a colorful account of a grueling campaign that lasted five months and covered hundreds of miles of rugged Ozark terrain. In a fascinating analysis of the personal, geographical, and strategic elements that led to the fateful clash in northwest Arkansas, he describes a campaign notable for rapid marching, bold movements, hard fighting, and the most remarkable raid of the Civil War.
Synopsis
On Sunday, December 7, 1862, two armies collided at an obscure Arkansas hamlet named Prairie Grove in a desperate battle that effectively ended Confederate offensive operations west of the Mississippi River. In
Fields of Blood, historian William L. Shea offers a gripping narrative of the events surrounding Prairie Grove, one of the great unsung battles of the Civil War.
Shea provides a colorful account of a grueling campaign that lasted five months and covered hundreds of miles of rugged Ozark terrain. In a fascinating analysis of the personal, geographical, and strategic elements that led to the fateful clash in northwest Arkansas, he describes a campaign notable for rapid marching, bold movements, hard fighting, and the most remarkable raid of the Civil War. After months of intricate maneuvering punctuated by five battles in three states, armies led by Thomas C. Hindman and James G. Blunt met one last time at Prairie Grove. The costly daylong struggle was a tactical draw but a key strategic victory for the Union, as the Confederates never again seriously attempted to recover Missouri or threaten Kansas.
Historians have long ignored the complex campaign that ended in such spectacular fashion at Prairie Grove, but it is at last brought to life in these pages.
About the Author
William L. Shea is professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He is coauthor of several books, including Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West (UNC Press) and Vicksburg Is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River.