Red River

Far Western Civil War #4

by P.G. Nagle

P. G. Nagle, "author of some of the best fiction written about Texas history" (Edward T. Cotham, Jr., author of Battle on the The Civil War Struggle for Galveston), writes with power and poignancy of a bloody campaign little chronicled but of great strategic to both North and South. Nagle tells the story of the struggle for dominance among the bayous and rivers of the Mississippi basin in an authoritative narrative both unflinching and compassionate, adding yet another memorable chapter to the chronicle of the Civil War fought in the Far West. The port city of Galveston has been reclaimed by the confederacy, and Jamie Russell's battalion, the Valverde Battery, is growing in respect and recognition. Jamie is sent to Louisiana on the shores of the Red River, a Confederate controlled waterway which leads into Texas. With the confederacy holding strong, it appears that Jamie might finally see some quiet.

But Union General Nathaniel Banks has other ideas. Setting his sights on the river in order to disrupt confederate supply routes as well as to gain a foothold in Texas, Banks orders a two-pronged attack on the soldiers holding the Red River. His plan moves one force of Union soldiers down from Arkansas while a fleet of ironclads and steamers makes its way up the river itself.

The Confederates, meanwhile, have secretly beached the huge steamer New City Falls across the river, each end touching shore, so the ship forms an unmovable blockade. By digging canals to reroute the water from the river, the rebels make sure the Red is low when the union ships arrive. Unable to move forward or retreat through the shallow water, the union troops are helpless under the fire of the rebels, including the Valverde Battery.

The Confederates seem to have won, but the Union soldiers aren't going to give up that easily. When the rebel commander falls to the federal artillery, and the Union begins to set up dams to divert water for an escape, it is the rebels who must fight to keep their heads above the water. But the Confederate forces on the Red River face a still rougher path. For the North has elsewhere begun to turn the tide of war, making the Valverde battery's future uncertain.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Civil War, War, Adventure, American Civil War

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 23, 2003

About the author

Also writes as Pati Nagle.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent Civil War historical novel. It deals with a less known part of the war in Louisiana. It is based on actual events, with some fictional characters thrown in. I sympathized with all the characters, North and South. They were well developed. The battle scenes were well done and authentically described. I liked that there was a satisfying conclusion to the book. This is volume 4 in a series, but the reader would never know it. It works well as a stand alone book. I enjoyed it very much.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll use this to review the entire four-book series. I enjoyed reading about places I was familiar with but events I was unfamiliar with especially battles on Bayou Teche where I was born! Makes me want to go to LA and take a tour of historic places. The only downside of the books that might be a turnoff to some readers is the romances. I especially found Laura in the first two books to be tiresome.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth and final (it appears) book in P.G. Nagle's "Civil War in the Far West" series. The series started with "Glorietta Pass", and continued with "The Guns of Valverde", and then "Galveston".

I think this book really demonstrates how Ms Nagle has grown into her writing abilities. The first book was well researched and there were several strong characters but the plot seemed to be pretty basic and even predictable. But as she progressed through this series she just got better and better. The research was still outstanding, exhaustive even, but her characters were better written. The plots take place against historical realities so that, of course, can't be changed. But how her fictional characters act and interact with others has become delightful. This last book in the series illustrates that very well, with her long-time character, confederate officer Jamie Russell, becoming truly multi-dimensional.

Ms Nagle's wartime action scenes are very well done as well. I felt like I was there, not in any kind of heroic battle sense but definitely feeling the fear, the exhaustion, and the filth of battle. Jamie leads his gun battery and is in the thick of battles...you can just hear the explosions and see the men around him struggle to do their duty. The Red River itself, a tributary to the Mississippi River, takes on a life of its own, especially as the Union boats try to free their ships from shallow waters in order to secure the entire Mississippi, a crutial strategy for the war.

All in all, this wraps up a very good historical fiction series. I just love it when a novelist takes great pains to get the history right. Ms Nagle doesn't scrimp on that for sure. I was happy to see it progress but I wish there were one more novel to finish out the war. This one does take us up to where the end is in sight though, so perhaps another would be anti-climactic.

[Mirrani · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about the Civil War and the Louisiana plantations, which takes place near the end of slavery, I found that last point to be unusually relaxing. I'm not certain why, but it seemed a relief to me to finally show how families dealt with the worries of losing their labor force. So often I read stories about the war that focus on all the action, with no thought to how the times affected people outside of the battles, who were dealing with other issues on top of sending their fathers and sons off to the battlefield, but this book was well balanced between battle and life at home. It was also quite refreshing to see how the horses were cared for by the soldiers, so often animals of war get ignored in books or set aside in a way that classifies them as transportation only, while the real story of their work and suffering alongside the men who cared for them goes unnoticed except in a few documentaries. I think readers who enjoy battle stories will find something in this book, just as those who prefer relationship stories will enjoy it.

From the very beginning you can tell that there is a whole series of books dealing with these characters. This is the first book that I have read, but it is not the first in the series. I still enjoyed it, even if I wished at times that I knew a little more of how some characters had developed relationships with each other in the past. I finished reading and felt quite willing to give the first book of the series a try, to see if that didn't settle the small confusions I had regarding some of the characters in Red River. The writing was good and the story well told. I enjoyed reading and am glad to have received a copy to review.

[Shirley Schwartz]

This is another early reviewer book for me. The book is set in the western part of the southern states and its time period is the 1860's. This is apparently the fourth book in a four-part series, but I have not read the other three. Even though I didn't read the other three, I wasn't at a disadvantage. The story held together very well on its own. I love historical fiction, and I am particularly drawn to civil war era books, so this one certainly fit the bill. I liked the characters, both Union and Confederate soldiers, and some civilians planters and, of course, slaves. I found that Nagle didn't dwell overmuch on the plight of the slaves, even though it was always there in the background. He did write marvelous 19th century battle scenes though. The battles were all historical battles from that war. There are a lot of real historical people brought to life and these are intermixed with Nagle's main characters, who he says are all fictional. These battles were all fought in the far west and there were a lot of Texans fighting for confederacy. He tells his story unstintingly, with a mix of compassion and empathy. His descriptions of the battles and the soldiers' down times on the battle fields ring true. I really enjoyed this book and would like to thank the publisher for giving me the chance to read it.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically a continuation (characters and plot) of Galveston, but with setting moved to Louisiana during the Overland Expedition/Invasion by Banks. This book suffers the same flaws as Galveston, for overly convenient plots and modern expressions jammed into 19th century mouths. Still, I'm grateful, as this author's other books, with this one listed in the "other works by" section, helped me discover this theater and these battles of the Civil War, that have gone largely uncovered and unromanticized, probably because of the very low casualty counts (compared to other battles in the East), and that many of the battles were naval (riverboats) and cavalry oriented.

[Irene Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book free from the author through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review. Another excellent historical novel by P G Nagle about the Civil War. It was very interesting how steam-powered boats were used to fight the war on the Mississippi and Red Rivers and also how these rivers were used for shipping and transportation during the Civil War period of our history by both the north and the south. I would love to read a sequel to this book. It would be interesting to follow the life of each character and their respective family after the war was over. I enjoy reading books by P G Nagle.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to read about the role of the steamboats in the West during the Civil War, but the book was only so-so.