Work for Giants: The Campaign and Battle of Tupelo/Harrisburg, Mississippi, June-July 1864

Civil War Soldiers and Strategies

by Thomas E. Parson

During the summer of 1864 a Union column, commanded by Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson Smith, set out from Tennessee with a goal that had proven impossible in all prior attempts to find and defeat the cavalry under the command of Confederate major general Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest's cavalry was the greatest threat to the long supply line feeding Sherman s armies as they advanced on Atlanta.

Smith marched at the head of his gorillas, veteran soldiers who were fresh from the Red River Campaign. Aside from diverting Confederate attention away from Sherman, Smith's orders were to destroy Southern railroads and confront Forrest in Mississippi. Just weeks earlier, a similar Union expedition had met with disaster at the Battle of Brice's Crossroads, perhaps the greatest victory of Forrest's military career.

Joined by reinforcements led by Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee, Forrest and his men were confident and their morale had never been higher. However, for two weeks, Smith outmarched, outfought, and outmaneuvered the team of Lee and Forrest. In three days of bitter fighting, culminating in the battle at Harrisburg, the Confederates suffered a staggering defeat. Forrest s corps was devastated. He and his men would recover but would never regain their earlier strength, nor would they ever again prove a serious threat to veteran Union infantry.

Work for Giants focuses on the details of this overlooked campaign and the efforts, postbattle and postwar, to minimize the outcome and consequences of an important Union victory. Parson draws heavily from previously untapped diaries, letters and journals, and eyewitness accounts, bringing to life the oppressive heat, cruel depredations, and brutal combat the soldiers encountered, and the stoic humor they used to endure them

Genres: American Civil War, Civil War

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2014

Reviews

[Stephen Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A competently done history of the Tupelo campaign, one of the forgotten 1864 operations. Parsons offers a clear narrative of operations by both the US and CS forces and of the battle and skirmishes. The provided maps are well done and useful in tracking movements. The postscript covering the major controversies of the campaign and the post-war depictions of it was very good. The one thing lacking would be a few pages on subsequent operations that summer.

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exhaustive account of a little discussed battle. At Tupelo, Forrest was at his worst as a commander. A. J. Smith comes across as easily one of the war's top 10 best commanders.

[Nick Roser · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well done and balanced study of AJ Smith’s 1864 campaign into northeast Mississippi. Keeping with the theme of reading about under appreciated or lesser known campaigns and battles in the West, I found the author’s approach, narrative, and ultimate analysis very insightful and refreshing. Adherents of the Lost Cause will undoubtedly find this book blasphemy as it effectively makes multiple arguments dispelling the aura of invincibility often associated with Nathan Bedford Forrest and his vaunted cavalry corps. I’ve gained a new appreciation for AJ Smith’s stoic, yet decisive personality and also for the hardships endured by the men of the Federal Sixteenth Corps. The final chapter, titled “A Second Battle”, does a fantastic job of framing why reality often conflicts with what we assume to be fact. Post war writings from privates and generals alike encompass all sorts of jockeying, political wrangling, absolution and appropriation of blame, saving face, and justifying losses in battle. Many of these accounts were taken at face value in the years following the war, and the author does a great job of addressing and sifting through the multitude of falsities that have historically labeled this campaign a costly Confederate victory. The author convincingly determines the opposite is true; the campaign achieved its strategic and operational goals while tactically whipping a veteran Confederate force in a lob sided battle. I tend to agree, and thought the final sentence fitting: “It is up to the diligent researcher to pursue the facts, reject the lies, and hold fast to the truth.”

[Donnie Sipes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book producing it for Audible. This is a very detailed but very interesting account of a civil war battle in the Corinth theater. It details how General Stephen D. Lee (USA) kept Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest occupied in North Mississippi so as to keep him from following after General William T. Sherman and literally derailing his supply line from Nashville to Atlanta.

I think the reader gets some new perspectives on the major players: Lincoln and Davis, Grant and Forrest and Sherman, et al.

I was especially impressed by his descriptions of how both armies were affected by the July heat. General Summer was as great a factor in determining the outcome of the battle as General Winter was in Napoleon's downfall. Lots of accounts by regular soldiers as well as memoirs and battle records from officers.

[H. Blalock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parson has brought to light one of the forgotten campaigns that probably won the war for the Union. In a thoroughly researched, detailed, and wonderfully readable book, Parson reveals the secrets of the campaign that protected Sherman's flank in his march to the sea and sealed the fate of the Confederacy. As the descendant of CSA soldiers myself, I found the work fascinating and more than a little enlightening. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the real War Between the States.

[JeffParrotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fair modern account. A bit dry and drawn out, but very well-researched and informative.