Foreword -- On to the Red River
Edwin C. Bearrs

A Colonel Gains His Wreath: Henry Gray and his Louisiana Brigade at the Battle of Mansfield, April 8, 1864
Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr.

The Union Naval Expedition on the Red River
Gary D. Joiner & Charles E. Vetter

A Death at Mansfield : Colonel James H. Beard and the Consolidated Crescent Regiment
Theodore P. Savas

Occupation: Lt. Charles W. Kennedy and 156th New York Infantry in Alexandria
Edited by Edward Steers

Touring the Red River Campaign
Gary Joiner

Over 25 pages of maps and photos

Military historian Gary Joiner of Shreveport has announced the publication of two books, each related to the Red River Campaign of the U.S. Civil War. One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End is a new analysis of the campaign. This books represents more than five years of intensive research and adds to body of knowledge about the last decisive Confederate victory of the Civil War. The second, The Red River Campaign: Union and Confederate Leadership and the War in Louisiana includes essays related to the campaign and is edited by Joiner along with Theodore P. Savas and David A. Woodbury. Each has received scholarly acclaim by Civil War historians.

Joiner, a member of the faculty of the Department of History and Social Sciences at LSU in Shreveport, became interested in the Battle of Mansfield and the Red River Campaign when he did research jointly with the late Dr. Eddie Vetter at Centenary College. Ad article they authored together is included in the book of essays. He also visited the Mansfield Battlefield shortly after moving to Shreveport and marrying his wife, Marilyn, who grew up in that town.

One Damn Blunder takes its name from a quote by General William Tecumseh Sherman who described the campaign in that manner. Although the Battle of Mansfield was a decisive victory for Confederate forces, it has been largely ignored by historians. “The victors write the history,” Joiner said, explaining the reason for the neglect of this part of American history. “The campaign included northern and southern troops, even troops of the black Corps de Afrique,” he said. “This is part of the American experience.”

The Red River Campaign was originally published as an edition of a journal, Civil War Regiments. Due to demand for the journal, it has been republished with additions by Parabellum Press, a publishing company organized by Joiner to publish work of locally historical significance. The original journal has been updated to include a foreword by preeminent civil war historian Ed Bearss, historian emeritus of the National Park Service, and a driving tour essay penned by Joiner. It includes essays on two colonels of local note, James Beard and Henry Gray.

FACTS ABOUT THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN

What made the Red River Campaign unique?

• The Battle of Mansfield was the last major Confederate victory of the Civil War.
  
• The highest-ranking Confederate officer to fall was Brig. Gen. Tom Green, a hero of San Jacinto and the leader of the Confederate cavalry. He died while commanding troops in what was perhaps the most unique battle of the war – over two thousand cavalry against an ironclad monitor, a wooden-clad gunboat, and a troop transport.
  
• This battle, Blair’s Landing, saw the first use of a periscope in battle.
  
• The Union fleet was saved by an ingenious series of dams at Alexandria. The dams allowed the river to rise and the Union gunboats to flee to safety. The engineer who designed the dams, Col. Joseph Bailey of Wisconsin, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his feat.
  
• The Confederates forced the Red River’s water to almost dry up by creating a dam south of Shreveport which diverted the flow into a parallel stream while allowing water to remain at navigable depths in Shreveport.
  
• The Confederates built an ironclad for river defense in Shreveport. The C.S.S. Missouri laid mines that sank the Eastport, the largest gunboat in the U.S. naval force.
  
• The Confederates also built five submarines in Shreveport. They were sisters of the C.S.S. Hunley, built by the same engineers. The submarines were 40 feet in length, 40 inches wide and 48 inches in depth. They had a nine man crew. Although ready to defend Shreveport, they were not used in the campaign and were unknown until recently. Four of the five are believed to be in Shreveport waters or underground in the former channel. The fifth was dismantled and sent to Houston, never to be heard from again.