Civil War

This Week in the Civil War

00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.

This Week in the Civil War - 550

Texas Public Radio | By Texas Public Radio

Published April 17, 2013 at 3:59 PM CDT

In mid-April 1863 both the Union and Confederacy launched impressive cavalry raids to harass their enemies. From La Grange, Tennessee Union Colonel Benjamin Grierson headed south with seventeen hundred cavalry, raiding through Mississippi.

The intent was to draw attention from Ulysses Grant’s offensive against Confederate held Vicksburg. Further to the east, another seventeen hundred man Union strike force led by Colonel Abel Streight moved south from Nashville into Alabama. Not to be outdone, the Confederates sent a five thousand man, cavalry force under General John Marmaduke from Arkansas into Missouri.

All three commanders completed their operations by May 3. Each daring commander survived the war, with Marmaduke eventually elected as Missouri’s governor and Streight serving in the Indiana state senate. Grierson continued in the U.S. military until his retirement in 1890.