Pap Price Returns! The 1864 Missouri Invasion.
- Thread starter Lothar
- Start date
JWQ
Gone Fishin'
Wow finally a discussion I haven’t missed.
I will gladly watch this discussion.
I’m already borrowing Sterling’s Prices invasion of Missouri of 1864 into my own alternative history timeline which in this timeline at the Confederates win battle Pea Ridge. For the most part confederacy is able to secure Arkansas and continue to have a foothold in Missouri. Sterling price along with the army of the trans Mississippi invade Missouri in 1862.
Well here is why general sterling price failed
During Price's Raid, written as a thesis for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Major Dale E. Davis postulates that Price's Missouri Expedition failed primarily due to his inability to properly employ the principles of "compound warfare". This requires an inferior power to effectively utilize regular and irregular forces in concert (such as was done by the North Vietnamese and Viet Congagainst the French and Americans during the Vietnam War) to defeat a superior army. He also blamed Price's slow rate of movement during his campaign, and the close proximity of Confederate irregulars to his regular force for this outcome.[28]
Major Davis observes that by wasting valuable time, ammunition and men in relatively meaningless assaults on Fort Davidson, Glasgow, Sedalia and Boonville, Price offered Union General Rosecrans time he might not otherwise have had to organize an effective response. Furthermore, he says, Price's insistence on guarding an ever-expanding wagon train of looted military supplies and other items ultimately became "an albatross to [his] withdrawal".[29] Price, wrote Davis, oughtto have used Confederate bushwhackers to harass Federal formations, forcing the Unionists to disperse large numbers of troops to pursue them over wide ranges of territory. This in turn would have reduced the number of effectives available to fight against Price's main force. Instead, Price kept many guerrillas close to his army and even incorporated some into his ranks, thus largely negating the value represented by their mobility and small, independent formations. This in turn allowed the Federal generals to ultimately concentrate a force large enough to trap and defeat Price at Westport, effectively ending his campaign and crushing one of the last hopes for the Confederacy in the Civil War
I will gladly watch this discussion.
I’m already borrowing Sterling’s Prices invasion of Missouri of 1864 into my own alternative history timeline which in this timeline at the Confederates win battle Pea Ridge. For the most part confederacy is able to secure Arkansas and continue to have a foothold in Missouri. Sterling price along with the army of the trans Mississippi invade Missouri in 1862.
Well here is why general sterling price failed
During Price's Raid, written as a thesis for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Major Dale E. Davis postulates that Price's Missouri Expedition failed primarily due to his inability to properly employ the principles of "compound warfare". This requires an inferior power to effectively utilize regular and irregular forces in concert (such as was done by the North Vietnamese and Viet Congagainst the French and Americans during the Vietnam War) to defeat a superior army. He also blamed Price's slow rate of movement during his campaign, and the close proximity of Confederate irregulars to his regular force for this outcome.[28]
Major Davis observes that by wasting valuable time, ammunition and men in relatively meaningless assaults on Fort Davidson, Glasgow, Sedalia and Boonville, Price offered Union General Rosecrans time he might not otherwise have had to organize an effective response. Furthermore, he says, Price's insistence on guarding an ever-expanding wagon train of looted military supplies and other items ultimately became "an albatross to [his] withdrawal".[29] Price, wrote Davis, oughtto have used Confederate bushwhackers to harass Federal formations, forcing the Unionists to disperse large numbers of troops to pursue them over wide ranges of territory. This in turn would have reduced the number of effectives available to fight against Price's main force. Instead, Price kept many guerrillas close to his army and even incorporated some into his ranks, thus largely negating the value represented by their mobility and small, independent formations. This in turn allowed the Federal generals to ultimately concentrate a force large enough to trap and defeat Price at Westport, effectively ending his campaign and crushing one of the last hopes for the Confederacy in the Civil War