Army of the West - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the U.S. army during the Mexican-American War see Army of the West (1846)
Army of the West (1846)
The Army of the West was the name of the United States force commanded by Stephen W. Kearny during the Mexican-American War, which played a prominent role in the conquest of New Mexico and California....

, and for the French Revolutionary army unit see Army of the West (1793).

The Army of the West was a military force within the Confederate States Army

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

that the was part of the Trans-Mississippi Department

Trans-Mississippi Department

The Trans-Mississippi Department was an administrative subdivision of the Confederate States of America west of the Mississippi, consisting of Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Indian Territories recognized by the CSA, and parts of Western Louisiana...

and was composed primarily of members of the old Missouri State Guard

Missouri State Guard

The Missouri State Guard was a state militia organized in the state of Missouri during the early days of the American Civil War. While not initially a formal part of the Confederate States Army, the State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at times, under regular Confederate...

. It saw action in the Battle of Pea Ridge

Battle of Pea Ridge

The Battle of Pea Ridge was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 6–8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Garfield. In the battle, Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the...

, Battle of Corinth

Second Battle of Corinth

The Second Battle of Corinth was fought October 3–4, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. For the second time in the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. William S...

and Battle of Iuka

Battle of Iuka

The Battle of Iuka was fought on September 19, 1862, in Iuka, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. In the opening battle of the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans stopped the advance of the army of Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price.Maj. Gen. Ulysses S...

and consisted of about 20,000 men.

The troops which formed Price's command in Arkansas and Missouri from 1863 to 1865 continued to be popularly called the Army of the West. Price's troops were formally reconstituted as the Army of Missouri

Army of Missouri

The Army of Missouri was an independent military formation during the American Civil War within the Confederate States Army, created in the fall of 1864 under the command of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price to invade Missouri. Price's Raid was unsuccessful, and his army retreated to Arkansas, where it was...

when they began Price's Raid

Price's Raid

Price's Missouri Expedition, also known as Price's Raid, was an 1864 Confederate cavalry raid through the states of Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. While Confederate Major General Sterling Price enjoyed some successes during this campaign, he was decisively beaten at the Battle...

in an 1864 attempt to recapture Missouri.

Pea Ridge campaign
Battle of Pea Ridge
The Battle of Pea Ridge was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 6–8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Garfield. In the battle, Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the...

During 1861, Confederate forces in Missouri and Arkansas were divided into two independent commands: Major General Stirling Price's pro–Confederate Missouri State Guard

Missouri State Guard

, based in southwestern Missouri, and Major General Benjamen McCulloh's Confederate volunteers, based in northwestern Arkansas and the Indian Territory

Indian Territory

The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...

. Both Price and McCulloch feuded with each other concerning the proper Confederate strategy in the Trans–Mississippi area, and cooperated only once, during the Wilson's Creek campaign

Battle of Wilson's Creek

The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, early in the American Civil War. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes...

in August 1861. During February 1862, the Union Army of the Southwest

Army of the Southwest

The Army of the Southwest was a Union Army that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. This force was also known as the Army of Southwest Missouri.-Army of the Southwest:...

commanded by Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis drove the Missouri State Guard out of the state and into northwestern Arkansas, where Price united with McCulloch's forces. The Confederates settled into winter quarters in the northern Boston Mountains, where Price immediately started feuding with McCulloch again. Price also started the process of enlisting his men from the Missouri State Guard into the Confederate volunteer army but the process was slow and only one brigade was organized onto complete regiments by March; another brigade was composed only of battalions and a third of partial organized battalions and companies.

To solve the problem of having two feuding commanders in Arkansas, Confederate President Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...

appointed Major General Earl Van Dorn

Earl Van Dorn

Earl Van Dorn was a career United States Army officer, fighting with distinction during the Mexican-American War and against several tribes of Native Americans...

to command the District of the Trans–Mississippi, which covered Missouri, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, and northern Louisiana; the district was part of the Confederate Department No. 2, commanded by General Albert Johnston

Albert Sidney Johnston

Albert Sidney Johnston served as a general in three different armies: the Texas Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army...

. Once he arrived in Arkansas, Van Dorn designated each command a division and enlisted additional troops, organizing them into the 19th and 20th Arkansas Infantry regiments. He also ordered Brigadier General Albert Pike to bring his brigade from the Indian Territory to Arkansas but only two regiments (the 1st and 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles) reached Van Dorn's army before the campaign started.

Van Dorn launched his offensive on March 5; when he discovered that Curtis was positioned behind fortifications located along the Little Sugar Creek, Van Dorn decided to march around the Union left flank and attack from the rear, starting the flanking march during the night of March 6–7. There was a delay as the Confederates had to construct a bridge over the Little Sugar Creek; by morning Price's division arrived at the Telegraph Road north of Curtis's fortifications, with McCulloch behind him and a rocky ridge called Big Mountain between the Confederates and the Union army. At this time, McCulloch received permission to head around the southern shoulder of Big Mountain and meet up with Price near Elkhorn Tavern, since this would shorten the distance he would travel. However, a portion of the Union army, commanded by Brigadier General Franz Sigel intercepted McCulloch's men near the southwest corner of Big Mountain. While an attack by Pike's brigade and Brigadier General James McIntosh's cavalry brigade drove back the Union forces from their initial positions, McCulloch was killed while scouting the second Union line, McIntosh was killed while leading an regiment into position, and Union reinforcements routed McCulloch's infantry brigade and captured its leader, Colonel Louis Hebert. Pike was able to rally a portion of the division and lead it back to the Bentonville Detour, where it marched around the northern end of Big Mountain and to Elkhorn Tavern. Colonel Elkanah Greer of the 3rd Texas Cavalry took command of another portion of the division and, after holding his position until after dark, also marched around Big Mountain to the tavern.

Meanwhile, Price's force, accompanied by Van Dorn, arrived near Elkhorn Tavern to find Colonel Eugene Carr's Union division defending the crest. Price deployed the State Guard on his left and the Missouri Confederate brigades on the right; following an artillery bombardment, he ordered a charge. The Confederates were able to drive back the Union line and capture a cannon but couldn't rout Carr's division; one of Price's brigade commanders was killed and Price himself was wounded twice but not seriously enough to leave the field. During the night, the remains of McCulloch's division arrived at Elkhorn Tavern but no supplies came, since the supply train was located several miles away at the initial Confederate positions and Van Dorn failed to order it to follow the army; as a result, the Confederates were low on ammunition.

Curtis concentrated his army around the Confederate positions near Elkhorn Tavern during the night; at dawn he started an artillery bombardment which lasted two hours. Due to having no ammunition reserves nearby, the Confederates soon ran very low on artillery shells and couldn't resupply for at least five or six hours. Van Dorn ordered his army to retreat towards the east before moving southwards. Neither Van Dorn nor Price remained behind to supervise the retreat, so the units left the field chaotically, with the artillery batteries leaving as they ran out of ammunition and the infantry and cavalry regiments following.

Once the army arrived at Van Buren, Van Dorn reorganized it into a single division under Price, with four infantry brigades, two cavalry brigades, and an artillery brigade. At this time, General P. G. T. Beauregard

P. G. T. Beauregard

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was a Louisiana-born American military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is commonly referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard, but he rarely used...

, acting for Johnston, ordered Van Dorn to bring his army to Corinth, Mississippi to join Johnston's force for an attack on the Union army at Shiloh. However, due to bad roads Van Dorn failed to reach Corinth until a week after the Battle of Shiloh

Battle of Shiloh

The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...

; in addition, Van Dorn brought all supplies he could, including the machinery and stores at the Little Rock arsenal, to northern Mississippi with him, and left few men behind.

Iuka-Corinth Campaign

Following the transfer of the Army of the West to Corinth, part of the army was incorporated into the Army of Mississippi

Army of Mississippi

There were three organizations known as the Army of Mississippi in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. -Army of Mississippi :This army, at times known by the names Army of the West or Army of the...

. The remaining units were reorganized by Price into two divisions commanded by Brigadier Generals Henry Little and Dabney Maury, with a cavalry brigade commanded by Colonel Frank Armstrong. As part of the preparations for the Perryville campaign

Confederate Heartland Offensive

The Confederate Heartland Offensive or Kentucky Campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in East Tennessee and Kentucky in 1862 during the American Civil War...

, the new commander of Department No. 2, General Braxton Bragg, divided Mississippi into several commands to defend the state in his absence. Van Dorn was appointed commander of the District of the Mississippi, centered around Vicksburg; Price was given the District of the Tennessee, covering northwestern Mississippi and northeastern Alabama, with the Army of the West as his field army. Price was ordered to hold the Mobile and Ohio Railroad

Mobile and Ohio Railroad

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. The M&O was chartered in January and February 1848 by the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It was planned to span the distance between the seaport of Mobile, Alabama and the Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois...

and prevent the Union forces in western Tennessee, commanded by U. S. Grant and William S. Rosecrans, from reinforcing the Union army in Kentucky, with Van Dorn to cooperate with Price. Initially, Van Dorn refused to unite his force with Price's, instead concentrating on recapturing Baton Rogue, Louisiana; when that attack failed, Van Dorn reconsidered Price's proposal of invading the Union held territory.

In the meantime, Price launched an offensive without waiting for Van Dorn's forces, mostly due to pressure from Bragg. He captured without a fight the town of Iuka on September 14, along with many supplies abandoned by the Union garrison. Grant and Rosecrans immediately formed a plan of trapping Price, with Grant moving in from the northwest to hold Price's attention, while Rosecrans attacked from the south and southwest to cut off Price's lines of retreat. The two columns reached Iuka on September 19 but due to poor communications and misunderstanding, Grant failed to attack as planned. This enabled Price to concentrate on Rosecrans, resulting in the Battle of Iuka

Battle of Iuka

; the Confederates overpowered the initial Union line and held it against Union counterattacks. Upon learning of Grant's approach, Price decided to retreat to avoid being surrounded; total Confederate casualties were 652, with Little killed and succeeded by Brigadier General Louis Hebert.

Uniting with Van Dorn at Ripley, Mississippi on September 28, Price placed himself under Van Dorn's command. The Army of the West was redesignated Price's Corps, which with Mansfield Lovell's division from the District of the Mississippi, formed Van Dorn's Army of West Tennessee

Confederate Army of West Tennessee

The Army of West Tennessee was a short-lived Confederate army led by Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, which fought principally in the Second Battle of Corinth....

. (Lovell's division remained separate from Price's corps and reported directly to Van Dorn.) Van Dorn then informed Price of his plans to capture Corinth: first the Confederates would march to Pocahontas, northwest of Corinth, in order to confuse the Union high command, then turn around and attack Corinth from the north and northwest. Although opposed to the plan, Price went along with it. During the two–day Battle of Corinth

Second Battle of Corinth

The Second Battle of Corinth was fought October 3–4, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. For the second time in the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. William S...

, Price's corps did much of the fighting. On the first day, Price's troops drove the Union troops from their lines north of Corinth into their second line of fortifications; on the second, his divisions overran several parts of the Union line and briefly entered into Corinth but had to fall back due to lack of support. Hebert reported himself sick on the morning of the second day and was replaced by Brigadier General Martin E. Green; in addition, several field officers were killed or wounded during the battle. During both days, Lovell failed to fully support Price's attacks, which may have been due to his opposition to attacking Corinth at all.

Van Dorn ordered a retreat first towards Pocahontas, where he proposed for the Confederate army to attack Corinth again from the south; both Price and Maury talked him out of it. The retreat continued westward, with Lovell's division serving as a rearguard against Rosecrans and Price's divisions in front. On the morning of October 6, Van Dorn learned that another Union force commanded by Stephen Hulbut was approaching from the west; he assigned Maury's division to hold the Davis Bridge over the Hatchie River until the army could reach another crossing six miles to the south. Maury formed a line on the west side of the creek but the line was overrun with the loss of 300 prisoners. Hulbut then crossed several regiments to the east bank, which suffered 570 casualties, mostly due to sharpshooters and artillery fire. Once a temporary bridge was built across the Hatchie, the Confederate army retreated to Holly Springs.

Price's force lost 35 percent of its strength, with most of the casualties in Maury's division (2,500 men out of 3,900, with another 600 desertions during the retreat). Both Price's and Van Dorn's districts were merged into the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, commanded by Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, who took over the Army of West Tennessee. Price was reassigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department

Trans-Mississippi Department

in February 1863 but the Missouri regiments were not transferred with him as he had requested.

Commanders

Earl Van Dorn
Earl Van Dorn
Earl Van Dorn was a career United States Army officer, fighting with distinction during the Mexican-American War and against several tribes of Native Americans...

(January–March 1862)
John P. McCown
John P. McCown
John Porter McCown was a career officer in the United States Army, fighting in the Mexican–American War and in the Seminole Wars. He also served as a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War....

(March–July 1862)
Sterling Price
Sterling Price
Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...

(July–September 1862)

Iuka-Corinth Campaign

Commanders

See also

External links