Wilson's Raid: The Final Blow to the Confederacy

by Russell W. Blount Jr.

Overview

Relive the final days of the Civil War with this compelling account of Wilson's Raid told by memoirs of those who witnessed it.

In the closing months of the Civil War, General James Wilson led a Union cavalry raid through Alabama and parts of Georgia. Wilson, the young, brash boy general of the Union, matched wits against Nathan Bedford Forrest, the South's legendary wizard of the saddle. Wilson's Raiders swept through cities like Selma, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery, destroying the last remaining industrial production centers of the Confederacy along with any hopes of its survival. Forrest and his desperately outnumbered cavalry had no option but to try to stop the Union's advance. Join Russell Blount as he examines the eyewitness accounts and diaries chronicling this defining moment in America's bloodiest war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467139038
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	02/26/2018
Series:	Civil War Series
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Russell W. Blount Jr. is a retired senior vice-president of Surety Land Title Inc. He is the author of four books on the American Civil War and has taught history at the high school level. An Alabama native, Blount is involved with a number of historical organizations, such as the Historic Mobile Preservation Society, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Civil War Trust. He is a frequent speaker at Civil War roundtables, battlefield parks, museums and other historical forums.

Table of Contents

Preface 11

1 Boots and Saddles 17

2 "First with the Most" 28

3 An Inhospitable Land 38

4 The Lost Brigade 47

5 The Road to Selma 57

6 The Queen City 68

7 The Horrors of War 79

8 An Army of Occupation 89

9 Cradle of the Confederacy 98

10 "By Jingo, I'll Do It" 112

11 Return of the Lost Brigade 124

12 "God's Will Be Done" 133

Analysis 143

Notes 147

Bibliography 161

Index 167

About the Author 173

Editorial Reviews

Blount is a master of the telling anecdote. He finds actual comments from diaries, post war memoirs, contemporary newspapers, even private letters to make his take appear alive, as if being told by those who were there. To that end, he tells the story in present tense, the better to engage the reader in the currency of his account. And such a story he tells. From private accounts we discover the shock of Union cavalrymen at the utter poverty of north Alabama. They wonder that the rude settlements could exist. Battle, however, is quickly offered. Not only are the conflict movements well expressed, we find the characters of the soldiers described, making such movements understandable. Why would Forrest send some men on leave when the enemy was near? How could Wilson lose an entire Union brigade for days? What happened at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa? Why were southern cities burned? Blount gives us the background to great events, remembered even today. Decatur Daily

From the Publisher