Disaster in Damp Sand: The Red River Expedition

by Curt Anders

Union General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign of 1864, the Disaster in Damp Sand, was the Confederacy's last decisive victory in the Civil War. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578600162
• ISBN13: 9781578600168
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Guilde Press of Indiana
• Length: 189 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Why Disaster in Damp Sand is Different

The Union's Red River Expedition of 1864 was a fiasco from conception to the last Congressional investigation's end, with blame that extended from Abraham Lincoln far down the chain of command -- yet the complexity of the botched campaign has often been overlooked. That, I thought, is a shame, for some of the mistakes made in this venture nearly 140 years ago are still being made.Accordingly, rather than take the usual approach -- mixing narrative with soldiers' letters and anecdotes -- I decided to probe the reasons for Nathaniel Banks' dismal failure, to wring as many lessons as I could from the experience. And rather than "preach," I elected to move from Washington to Louisiana, from the politics to the military and naval action, from the Union side to the Confederate, switching back and forward so that readers can form their own judgments -- in short, to tell a good story that has plenty of points.Also, in Disaster in Damp Sand I had the opportunity to callattention to a much-neglected aspect of Civil War historiography: how water -- rivers, inlets, creeks, harbors, bayous -- shaped the decisions and actions of commanders. Here, the Red River was not only pro-Confederate, but as much a factor in the outcome as General Banks, or Stonewall Jackson's protege "Dick" Taylor, or Admiral David Dixon Porter who boasted that he could take his gunboats wherever the sand was damp -- and did it.Actually, the Civil War was the last in which water would have significant influence on land operations. And the Red River Expedition was the last major campaign in which Confederates were clearly victorious.Finally, although Disaster in Damp Sand is less than 200 pages in length, I've been told that word for word it packs an unusual wallop.