i am working on "Pea Ridge" a book about the civil war battles in northwest arkansas.

it is pretty good. it has a lot of detail about overall planning and strategy. in the civil war, a lot happened because they simply had no good way to communicate with each other. they would lay out a plan for the day and the various parts of the army would go off and try to execute their part of the plan. when the battle didnt go the way they thought often the improvization necessary would just lead to some very astonishing results.

in this battle, the confederates had at least twice as many men and twice as many cannons, but lacked provisions, tents and basic winter clothing. this was a result of their commanders poor planning. they also held poor ground which was a lot lower than the federals and thus they tried and tried to fight their way out of a deep valley but never really made it til the federals were so dug in that they couldnt beat them. the southern army lost about 1/4 of its men before it engaged the enemy to hunger and exhaustion.

and then they marched so far ahead of their supply wagons that they couldnt get ammo when they needed it and had to withdraw from lack of it.]

it was a fiasco from start to finish. the confederate general was apparently the biggest problem for them.

i am nearing the final parts of the book.

i recommend it.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

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