Army of The Trans-Mississippi - The Army

The Army

The Army of the Trans-Mississippi was the major Confederate field army for the Department of the Trans-Mississippi during the American Civil War. The army originally numbered well over 50,000 troops, but less than 43,000 by the wars end. Major campaigns fought in this Department included Sibley's New Mexico campaign, Banks' Red River campaign, and Price's Missouri campaign, amongst others.

The Army of the Trans-Mississippi was the last major Confederate command to be surrendered. General E. Kirby Smith did so on May 26, 1865, although many of his troops had already "gone home."

It was in Trans-Mississippi that the post-war Battle of Palmito Ranch was fought, May 12–13, 1865. A victory for the Confederate forces, the battle was actually fought several days after the war had actually ended. Although the war in trans-Mississippi was officially over, the declaration of the end of hostilities could not yet be counted on. The last remaining Confederate land-combat force of the war, the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles (led by Cherokee Nation leader, and Confederate Brigadier-General, Stand Watie) surrendered on June 23, 1865.

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Famous quotes containing the word army:

    I was interested to see how a pioneer lived on this side of the country. His life is in some respects more adventurous than that of his brother in the West; for he contends with winter as well as the wilderness, and there is a greater interval of time at least between him and the army which is to follow. Here immigration is a tide which may ebb when it has swept away the pines; there it is not a tide, but an inundation, and roads and other improvements come steadily rushing after.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    To make an Army work you have to have every man in it fitted into a fear ladder.... The Army functions best when you’re frightened of the man above you, and contemptuous of your subordinates.
    Norman Mailer (b. 1923)