By William L. Shea.
Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books, 2023.
ISBN 978-1-64012-518-6. Photographs. Maps.
Notes. Bibliography. Index.
Pp. x, 368. $26.00.
William Shea has uncovered the remarkable story and written a long overdue and comprehensive biography of Union General Samuel Curtis, who led Union troops to several victories in the Western Theater, including at Pea Ridge. He was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers and received a command in the Army of the Southwest. Shea devotes significant time to analyzing Curtis’s victory against the Confederacy during the 1862 campaign in Arkansas, for which he received a promotion to major general and command of the Department of Missouri, and the Mine Creek battle in Kansas. Shea estimates that this abolitionist fighting officer freed more African Americans from slavery than anyone else, other than Abraham Lincoln. Students will gain much by reading this important book, but scholars should utilize this deeply researched and meticulous detailed work in their own writing.
Shea previously wrote military battle treatments on Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, and Vicksburg, some of which Curtis was involved in. Curtis was a graduate of West Point in 1831, a Mexican War colonel serving with the 2d Ohio Volunteers, and an early member of the Republican Party who briefly served as a congressman. After the Civil War, he served on the northern Great Plains. Thanks to Shea, Curtis is able to regain at least a degree of warranted consideration. Shea argues one reason for a lack of biographies on Curtis was he did not promote himself during the Civil War, thought he would be recognized by others following the conflict, and he passed away in 1866 (p. 296).
An unusual aspect of this biography is the focus on Curtis’s engineering work experience. In the 1830s, he was hired in Ohio to build the National Road. More importantly, this led him to the Ohio Board of Public Works hiring him as resident engineer of the Muskingum River Improvement in southeastern Ohio, where he built navigation channels that provided farmers and merchants to access to alternate routes to the Ohio River. Following the Mexican War, he oversaw the Des Moines Iowa River Improvement Project that opened the state to development (p 45). Finally, he became the city engineer in St. Louis, where he changed the course of the Mississippi River, and constructed a citywide drainage system. Shea portrays Curtis as being disciplined and ingenious in his work that contributed to his efforts as a Union general.
One thing that will surprise readers is that Ulysses S. Grant did not get along with Curtis, though they did not really know each other. Shea asserts it may have been because of competition for promotion in the Western Theater (p. 297). Curtis was the first Union general to explore the possibilities of a waterborne approach with naval support to Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. Major General W. Halleck turned him down; however, Grant ordered Major General William T. Sherman four months later to accomplish the same approach following a failed attempt at Chickasaw Bayou (p. 155). Shea also contends that the animosity between Grant and Curtis could have stemmed from policies dealing with freed slaves and cotton traders along the Mississippi River.
Shea’s gift for telling a readable story allows readers to gain much on a fighting general during the Mexican War and Civil War, as well as insight into the economic changes to the United States during the Industrial Revolution, end of slavery, and a significant rise in immigration to the United States. It, makes Union General a must read for historians and general readers alike. It utilizes many newly discovered primary sources to weave a well-written and balanced history of Curtis, his family, and the United States during an important period. While there are three detailed maps that appear in this book, it would have been beneficial to have included more throughout this volume. Eight helpful photographs flesh out this groundbreaking study. Overall, this book is meaningful for anyone interested in the Civil War’s Western Theater and wants to better understand the Trans-Mississippi/Army of the Southwest specifically.
David Marshall
Miami, Florida