This Band of Heroes: Granbury's Texas Brigade, C.S.A., by James M. McCaffrey.

While I was down sick for a couple of weeks, I had the time to get caught up on some reading. This book is one that I've been meaning to read, but never seemed to find time to sit down and do it. This book has been around for awhile -- originally published in 1985, reprinted in 1996 -- so some of you may already be familiar with it. It's of interest to us Arkansas folks for two reasons: first, it covers the events leading up to the attack on Fort Hindman (Arkansas Post); and, second, Granbury's brigade was eventually attached to the division commanded by our own Maj. Gen. Patrick Ronayne Cleburne.

The Texas regiments covered in this book include the 6th, 7th and 10th Infantry, and the 15th, 17th, 18th, 24th and 25th Dismounted Cavalry, plus Richardson's Independent Cavalry Company. The organization of each regiment is discussed, along with the various routes each outfit took before arriving at Arkansas Post (some served briefly under Albert Pike, some under Rust, some under Deshler).

The section dealing with Arkansas Post was very interesting. Some of the minutiae was new information to me. The circumstances of the surrender, which began spontaneously in the trenches occupied by the 24th Texas, ruined the careers of the brigade officers, and badly tarnished the reputation of the Texas troops involved.

After being exchanged, they were ordered to join the Army of Tennessee, where they were formed up into a brigade under the command of Brig. Gen. Hiram B. Granbury. None of the division commanders wanted any part of these "cowards", so Cleburne took them under his wing. Thus began a love affair between these disgraced Texans and their new division commander. Granbury's Texans never faltered again. Under the inspired leadership of General Cleburne, Granbury's Brigade became a tough, loyal, "band of heroes" who would rather die than let their general down.

The book relies heavily on letters, diaries and newspaper accounts, as well as the usual official records. The only part of the book I was a little disappointed in are the chapters dealing with events following the Franklin/Nashville disasters to the end of the war -- pretty skimpy. In fairness to the author, though, primary source material from this period is pretty scarce.

The book has three useful appendices --

Appendix A -- The Flags of Granbury's Brigade.
Appendix B -- The Weapons of Granbury's Brigade (weapons experts like Tom and Doyle won't find much here that they aren't already thoroughly familiar with -- novices like me might find it interesting).
Appendix C -- The Men of Granbury's Brigade (a complete roster of every man in every regiment in the brigade).

It's an easy read, well-organized, and precisely footnoted. I give this book a B+ (points off because of the brevity of the narrative covering the end of the war).