Walker's Texas Division, C.S.A Greyhounds of the Trans-Mississippi

The first modern history of this entire unique Civil War unit--its men, its marches, and its battles. Colorfully known as the "Greyhound Division" for its lean and speedy marches across thousands of miles in three states, Major General John G. Walker's infantry division in the Confederate army was the largest body of Texans--about 12,000 men at its formation--to serve in the American Civil War. Walker's unit remained, uniquely for either side in the conflict, a stable group of soldiers from a single state from its creation in 1862 until its disbandment at the war's end. Richard Lowe's compelling account shows how this collection of farm boys, store clerks, carpenters, and lawyers became the trans-Mississippi's most potent Confederate fighting unit, from the vain attack at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, in 1863 during Grant's Vicksburg campaign to stellar performances at the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins' Ferry that helped repel Nathaniel P. Banks's Red River campaign of 1864. Using a database of information collected on 2,200 soldiers, Lowe calculates that Walker's enlisted men were somewhat older, more likely to be married, and more often heads of households than their counterparts, both Rebel and Yankee. Although the Confederacy may have erred in not sending the division east of the Mississippi River to fight in larger campaigns, Lowe's book yields the poignant conclusion that the Greyhounds were content to remain where they were to shield their families from an invading enemy and the devastation of war. A skillful blending of narrative drive and demographic profiling, Walker's Texas Division, C.S.A. represents an innovative history of the period that is sure to set anew benchmark.Lowe, Richard G. is the author of 'Walker's Texas Division, C.S.A Greyhounds of the Trans-Mississippi', published 2004 under ISBN 9780807129333 and ISBN 080712933X.