Colorfully known as the "Greyhound Division" for its lean and speedy marches across thousands of miles in three states, Major General John G. Walker's infantry division in the Confederate army was the largest body of Texans - about 12,000 men at its formation - to serve in the American Civil War. Walker's unit remained, uniquely for either side in the conflict, a stable group of soldiers from a single state from its creation in 1862 until its disbandment at the war's end. Richard Lowe's compelling account shows how this collection of farm boys, store clerks, carpenters, and lawyers became the trans-Mississippi's most potent Confederate fighting unit, from the vain attack at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, in 1863 during Grant's Vicksburg campaign to stellar performances at the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins' Ferry that helped repel Nathaniel P. Banks's Red River campaign of 1864. Using a database of information collected on 2,200 soldiers, Lowe calculates that Walker's enlisted men were somewhat older, more likely to be married, and more often heads of households than their counterparts, both Rebel and Yankee. Although the Confederacy may have erred in not sending the
- ISBN10 080712933X
- ISBN13 9780807129333
- Publish Date 21 May 2004
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Louisiana State University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 440
- Language English