Clay-
A quote I read from an Arkansas historian a while back goes something like "The vast field of Arkansas history remains unplowed". As an avid student of the war I think I've about maxed out on readings on the eastern theater and I know they sell well but please do we really need another book on Getteysburg? The Shea book on Prairie Grove is an excellent read and I would think even those who "don't think much happened out west" are maybe coming around to the importance of the TM. If, even as a casual reader you read on the actions out here you begin to appreciate that the war was a true Civil war, with its extensive guerrilla actions, Native Americans fighting each other impossible logistics and countryside,river war ect. ect. The war started back east in 1861 but "Bleeding Kansas" had been going on before that and the feud between the Cheokees dated to their time in Georgia before the trail of tears. To truly understand the war, I believe, historians should look out here first, not last.
But I have an ancestoral bias because for my relatives the war was here, not in Virgina. But maybe the historians are coming around-I look forward to the "Pillars of Power" series as another good start. Thanks so much for your posts on the retreat of Steele after Praire Deanne. Looking at a county map the "Cale road" route seems to match the accounts of that swampy country se of Prescott and may have been the fastest and best road at the time. You would think that if he used his calvary as a screen that would put them closer to hwy 19, and my ancestors home just west of laneburg and if he took this most logical route then I don't think he would split his army by sending part of hit straight east via 24 but I defer to you as the expert on the subject. I have wondered about this for some time.