One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864

by Gary D. Joiner

In the spring of 1864, as the armies of Grant and Lee waged a highly scrutinized and celebrated battle for the state of Virginia, a no- less important, but historically obscured engagement was being conducted in the pine barrens of northern Louisiana. In a year of stellar triumphs by Union armies across the South, the Red River Campaign stands out as a colossal failure. General William Tecumseh Sherman's scathing summation describes it best, "One damn blunder from beginning to end." Taking its title from Sherman's blunt description, One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864 is a fresh inspection of what was the Civil War's largest operation between the Union Army and Navy west of the Mississippi River. In a bold, but poorly managed effort to wrest Louisiana and Texas from Confederate control, a combined force of 40,000 Union troops and 60 naval vessels traveled up the twisting Red River in an attempt to capture the capital city of Shreveport. Gary D. Joiner provides not a recycled telling of the campaign, but a strategic and tactical overview based on a stunning new array of facts gleaned from recently discovered documents. This never-before-published information reveals that the Confederate army had laid a clever trap by engineering a drop in the water level of the Red River to try to maroon the Union naval flotilla. Only the equally amazing ingenuity of the Union troops saved the fleet from certain destruction, despite a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Mansfield. The Red River campaign had lasting implications. One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End magnifies just how devastating the diversion of so many men and so much material to this failed campaign was to the Union effort in the pivotal year of 1864. Because of the Union Army's failures, Northern plans to capture Mobile were scrapped. Military careers were made and lost. And at time when the Confederacy was teetering on the brink of oblivion, Southern morale was bolstered. Joiner puts together

Genres: Civil War, History, American Civil War, Military Fiction

218 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2002

Reviews

[Manray9 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best account yet of Bank's disastrous campaign up the Red River in 1864. I came away from it with a renewed appreciation of Richard Taylor and even greater contempt for the politician in uniform, Nathaniel Banks. It is shameful that President Lincoln allowed good men to die under such incompetent leadership.

[Joshua Van Dereck · Rating 4 out of 5]

One Damn Blunder is a very decent survey-level history of the Red River campaign. Joiner summarizes the key points deftly and rapidly, offers a few select descriptions of the natural environment, and provides direct and simple analysis that does not detract from the narrative. This is not a thorough history, detailing the engineering or military elements of the expedition, nor does it offer extended atmosphere or many personally compelling or heart-wrenching details. However, I would certainly recommend it for someone looking to learn a fair amount about Red River without fully immersing themselves in a dense history.

[Iain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well done account of the campaign that doesn't get bogged down in details. The maps could be better, and I found the battle descriptions a bit too succinct for my tastes.

Recommend for anyone interested in an approachable account of this oft overlooked campaign.

[Robert Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on a topic that doesn't receive enough credit in the Civil War circles, the Red River Campaign.

I know from personal research as well as actually visiting many of the places described in the book that it is both accurate and entertaining insofar as a scholarly work can be.

At least one of my ancestors was in the battles and locations described in this book and the Red River Campaign took place in and around my "neck of the woods", Natchitoches, Louisiana and the areas north and south of it.

It's hard to imagine what the men in this war went through but Mr. Joiner does a great job of bringing history to life.