The Best Confederate Army Commander of the Trans-Mississippi

Best Confederate Army Commander of the Trans-Mississippi

  • Sterling Price

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Benjamin McCulloch

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • Earl Van Dorn

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • Thomas C. Hindman

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Theophillus Holmes

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Richard Taylor

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • John George Walker

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    13
Who was the best Confederate Army Commander of the Trans-Mississippi Theater? (Edmund Kirby Smith is excluded because he didn't actually command an Army in the Trans-Mississippi)
 
Nobody's ever interested in the Trans-Mississippi you know. It was an important theater of the war but nobody ever cares about it. No real big egos at play in it I suppose.
 
I dunno, Magruder was my favorite general in the west... not that he made the list. :p

Not that there ever was a sizable force from either army out west.

And Texas was never really conquered! ;)
 
Richard Taylor seems like the most effective to me. Van Dorn was a competent cavalry commander, but Pea Ridge and Corinth speak for themselves. I think the same can be said of Price (in his botched 1864 Missouri expedition). Granted, his quarreling with Smith did little to help the Southern war effort, but he seems the most militarily capable. Hindman seems like a close second. HIs guerilla tactics made Arkansas a thorn in Curtis' side for a while.
 
I dunno, Magruder was my favorite general in the west... not that he made the list. :p

Not that there ever was a sizable force from either army out west.

And Texas was never really conquered! ;)

Magruder was assigned to the Trans-Mississippi but he never accepted the command and though he did command a force out there it was never an Army.

Benjamin McCulloch and Sterling Price both commanded small Armies early on that fought in Missouri and Arkansas before they were combined into the Army of the West under Van Dorn who took that force across the Mississippi after losing at Pea Ridge.

Thomas C. Hindman was building an Army in Arkansas by hijacking troops being sent east and actually managed to drive a Federal force out of Arkansas before he fell foul of his political opponent.

Holmes commanded a force of at least 10,000 around the time of the Vicksburg campaign, which was about as big as any Confederate Army got West of the Mississippi, but then agains Holmes was a terrible theater commander and administrator and who knows how many men he could have had. Joe Johnston estimated he could have had theoretically around 50,000 but that seems a bit of a wild estimate to me.

Dick Taylor famously commanded an Army in Louisiana and during the Red River Campaign.

John George Walker commanded a small Army against Frederick Steele in the "Camden Expodition" and drove him to retreat.

All in all the Trans-Mississippi is a tale of neglect from Richmond and a lot of untapped potential in the Generals, particularly in Taylor, Walker, McCulloch and (though he's not on the list) Joseph O. Shelby.
 
Last edited:
Richard Taylor seems like the most effective to me. Van Dorn was a competent cavalry commander, but Pea Ridge and Corinth speak for themselves. I think the same can be said of Price (in his botched 1864 Missouri expedition). Granted, his quarreling with Smith did little to help the Southern war effort, but he seems the most militarily capable. Hindman seems like a close second. HIs guerilla tactics made Arkansas a thorn in Curtis' side for a while.

McCulloch had a lot of potential for Army Command plus he had a good standing amungst the Indians. I think had, he not died at Pea Ridge, he would have become one of the Confederacy best Generals.

Also John George Walker was a general who had a lot of potential. He could of at least made a damned good Corps Commander in the major Armies had he not been thrown west of the Mississippi after the Maryland Campaign. He actually developed a reputation similar to Stonewall Jackson when he was out in the Trans-Mississippi. He's a rather overlooked and underrated general.
 
Last edited:
Top