Dixie Victorious: An Alternate history of the Civil War

by Peter Tsouras

  Bibliography

  Bridges, Hal, Lee’s Maverick General, Daniel Harvey Hill (University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1961).

  Catton, Bruce, A Stillness at Appomattox (Doubleday, New York, 1953).

  Davis, William C., Death in the Trenches (Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA, 1986).

  Downey, Fairfax, The Guns at Gettysburg (David McKay, New York, reprinted 1987).

  Elting, John R., The Superstrategists (Scribner’s and Sons, New York, 1985).

  Elting, John R., American Army Life (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1982).

  Esposito, Vincent J., ed., The West Point Atlas of American Wars, Volume I, (Praeger, New York, 1959).

  Lewis, Thomas, A., The Shenandoah in Flames (Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA, 1987).

  Martin, Jane A., and Ross, Jeremy, Associate Editors, Spies, Scouts, and Raiders (Time Life Books, Alexandria, VA, 1985).

  Naisawald, L. Vanloan, Grape and Canister (Oxford University Press, New York, 1960).

  Notes

  1.

  Thomas A. Lewis, The Shenandoah in Flames, p. 53.

  *2.

  This battery would distinguish itself both at Cedar Creek and Winchester.

  3.

  The command relationship between Grant, commander-in-chief of the Union armies, and Meade, Commander of the Army of the Potomac from Gettysburg to the end of the war, was interesting. Contrary to many accounts, Grant was never the commander of the Army of the Potomac, he and his staff merely accompanied it for the duration as Grant saw that Northern Virginia, and Lee’s army, was the decisive theater. Odd as it was, the relationship worked.

  4.

  The old story about Jackson’s acquisition of the name “Stonewall” is probably apocryphal. He did stand like a stone wall as General Bernard Bee emphatically, and undoubtedly profanely, stated. However, Bee may not have used the term because of Jackson’s steadiness under fire, but for his tardiness in supporting Bee and his troops, who were going through a very bad time. Unfortunately, Bee was killed, and we will never know the truth of the story.

  5.

  A portion of the Shenandoah Valley became known as “Mosby’s Confederacy” for the impunity with which Mosby and his troopers operated in that general area. Mosby was the ideal partisan chief—intelligent, quick-witted, and hardhitting.

  6.

  The Northern volunteer units were raised by the state governors, not the Federal Government. Since this was the mass of the troops that fought the Civil War, this gave the Northern governors immense political influence. It also was, as the old saying goes, one hell of a way to run a railroad. There were two great faults of the system: first, except for Wisconsin, the “replacement” method most favored by the state governors was to raise new units, not replace casualties in veteran ones. Hence, officers in new units, especially senior field grade ones, were inexperienced and outranked veteran captains and majors who commanded the small, veteran volunteer units and knew much more of warfare. This led to more mistakes and high casualties. Second, the governors had politicians and hacks commissioned as general officers, most of whom were found to be incompetent. Both Sigel and Hunter were of this ilk, though at least Sigel tried. Hunter is infamous as the officer who ordered the Virginia Military Institute to be burned.

  7.

  Wright and his VI Corps were probably the best choice for the Valley Campaign. Wright was more than competent, and the VI Corps, which had been commanded by “Uncle John” Sedgwick until he was killed by a Confederate sniper at Spotsylvania, was a veteran unit, inured to hardship and the rigors of campaigning. It became the linch-pin of Sheridan’s army. Two of its senior officers, David Russell and Emory Upton, were outstanding up-and-comers. They had organized, planned, and led the first successful night assault of the war at Rappahannock Station in November 1864, capturing the fortified position and most of the famed Louisiana Brigade, part of Jubal Early’s command.

  8.

  Yankee horse artillery was considered a true elite arm of the service. See Fairfax Downey, The Guns at Gettysburg, p. 15.

  9.

  The 3-inch ordnance rifle was considered to be the best field piece of the Civil War. Light, durable and accurate, it was much prized by its crews and was the ideal horse artillery weapon.

  *10.

  This tough, veteran battery, commanded by Captain Samuel Fallon, was one of the few units to extricate itself intact from the disaster at Winchester. Fallon later rose to be chief of artillery.

  11.

  Emory Upton has been described as “something of a northern Stonewall Jackson” and arguably the best tactician the Civil War produced. His tactics were adopted by Grant at the Muleshoe Salient at Spotsylvania.

  12.

  The fighting in the Valley saw sabre-wielding Yankee cavalry in massed formation charge and overrun formed Confederate infantry in the open. It is little known and studied, but the hard-riding Northern cavalry under such commanders as James Wilson was a highly capable, well-led weapon that had finally come of age in the last two years of the war.