The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861–1865 (Volume 5) (Campaigns and Commanders Series)

The Upper South―Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia―was the scene of the most destructive war ever fought on American soil. Contending armies swept across the region from the outset of the Civil War until its end, marking their passage at Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Perryville, and Manassas. Alongside this much-studied conflict, the Confederacy also waged an irregular war, based on nineteenth-century principles of unconventional warfare. In The Uncivil War , Robert R. Mackey outlines the Southern strategy of waging war across an entire region, measures the Northern response, and explains the outcome. Complex military issues shaped both the Confederate irregular war and the Union response. Through detailed accounts of Rebel guerrilla, partisan, and raider activities, Mackey strips away romanticized notions of how the “shadow war” was fought, proving instead that irregular warfare was an integral part of Confederate strategy. Contents 8 Illustrations 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction Civil War Irregular Warfare in Theory and Practice 16 1 The Confederacy’s Self-Inflicted Wound The Guerrilla War in Arkansas, 1862–1865 37 2 Fire, Provosts, and Tories The Federal Counterinsurgency Campaign in Arkansas 63 3 John Singleton Mosby and the Confederate Partisan War in Virginia 85 4 Misreading the Enemy The Union Army’s Failed Response to Partisan Warfare in Virginia 108 5 The Heyday of Raiding Warfare Morgan and Forrest in Tennessee and Kentucky, 1862 136 6 Great Raids, Great Reforms and Great Disasters The 1863 Spring and Summer Raiding Campaign 177 Conclusion The End of the Uncivil War 208 Appendix A The Partisan Ranger Act 218 Appendix B General Orders Number 17 220 Notes 222 Bibliography 270 Index 292 "Mackey's book demonstrates that the failure of the shadow war can be traced both to poor Confederate command, which allowed irregulars to prey on their own neighbors, and to effective Union countermeasures. As a result, by 1865, the Confederacy had collapsed on both conventional and unconventional fields of conflict."--Jacket The Confederacy attempted to fight an irregular conflict in conjunction with the conventional war, doing so within the limits of nineteenth-century concepts of guerrilla, partisan, and raiding warfare. An in-depth examination of irregular warfare in the Upper South during the Civil War outlines the Southern strategy of waging war, the Northern response, and the outcome of the conflict. Reprint.