Chase I posted a complete review on this book on this board months ago and reposted it on Amazon.com. I am not a historical writer, I am a historical researcher and reviewer. I have visited Fort Pillow many times and have read everything I could my hands on it for the last thirty years. Here is my opinion of "River Run Red", not my best composition, but this book didn't require extensive grammer correction to get my point accross.
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531 pages cover to cover. 100 pages of notes. 8 pages of 31 photographs. 2 maps.
I have read and own nine biographies and histories of General N. B. Forrest and his cavalry and I'm pro-Southern. Although this work is described as an examination of the Fort Pillow affair by the author in my estimation it is not. River Run Red is an attempt to reduce General N. B. Forrest popularity and blatantly smear his historic reputation as an outstanding military commander. If one word could describe River Run Red it would be the author's repeated condescending use of the nickname 'Wizard' for General Forrest. I wish now I would have starting counting his term for the General but by the time I noticed he was using it at least once per page and sometimes three times per paragraph I deemed it was not worth the effort.
Another distraction was Mr. Ward's own smug opinions frequently interjected after favorable Confederate quotes necessary for the story. They were either by whole paragraph or found between brackets. I found no such distractions after any of the Union quotes.
References: Mr. Wards includes one hundred pages of valuable notes and references at the back of the book. I had to go to these many times when I questioned something in the main body of interest. I found either mistakes or outright omissions. One famous quote from a Confederate is only half published (the favorable part in reference to Gen. Forrest omitted) and is misrepresented as from "an unknown" when this is false. Another unfavorable quote, said to be from General Forrest and referenced by Ward in Hurst book 'Nathan Bedford Forrest', I did not remember. After an extensive search this quote cannot be found in Hurst's book either at the pages specified or anywhere near them.
Research: Mr. Ward included more material on this one subject than any single work I've read but on new information on the actual fighting at Fort Pillow I find he submits little. The most valued information for me is the great detail about the people surrounding the whole story of Fort Pillow. There is no new detail on exactly how many soldiers were involved, how many were captured, how many were killed in combat, and how many were killed while trying to surrender. There are no detailed diagrams or maps showing the fort layout, the geography and positions of the combatants necessary in understanding a military event. There are no muster rolls, list of the dead, or captured. Most importantly I found his feeble attempt of the chronological order of the events at Fort Pillow contradictory and hard to follow.
Bias: This work is simply biased. Mr. Ward's buildup to April 12, 1864 is very incomplete and misleading. This book is not for the uneducated novice. Mr. Ward does not give General Forrest any credit of his victories and actions before Fort Pillow. Any new reader of this history would wonder why the Union forces were so scared of Forrest's men in the first place. Mr. Ward states that Forrest was jealous of Duckworth's 7th Tennessee's capture of the Union garrison at Union City and was totally humiliated by his defeat at Paducah, Kentucky and suggest this led him to attack Fort Pillow and massacre its garrison. He fails to mention that the 7th Tennessee, one of Forrest favorite regiments, was under his command and performing his orders. Further he does not mention Forrest's raids into Western Tennessee and Kentucky were well over a hundred miles behind enemy lines and just getting to Paducah was considered a success. He states near the beginning of the book that military reports from General Forrest and his lieutenants were not to be trusted but includes Union reports frequently and without comment. At one point in the book Mr. Ward states that the Battle of Parker's Crossroads was a great and shattering defeat for Forrest losing all of his plunder and 500 of his own men there; these details obviously came from Union reports and those of Forrest are not even mentioned. Mr. Ward either does not know or does not appreciate the difficulty Forrest was in, being surrounded by a much larger force, behind enemy lines and was still able to escaped with 1500 prisoners and over thirty wagons of captured supplies.
The Story: For both pro-Union and pro-Confederate the book has a section or chapter for you but Mr. Ward contradicts himself many times. This incompatibility of statements forced me to have to go back and reread sections of the book. I also found his notes in the back of the book, in many cases, more interesting than the main body of Mr. Ward's work.
Dumbest statement from Mr. Ward: "The men who served in the Civil War called going into battle 'meeting the elephant.' No one knows exactly why. Perhaps, from a distance, the smoke roiling up from a battle resembled an elephant, but it seems to me just as likely that they could have been referring to the old saw about the blind men and the elephant, each feeling a small portion and none able to describe the beast as a whole."
Recommendations:
I recommend this book for the serious historians of General Forrest and Fort Pillow. I also recommend this book for Civil War reenactors for the vast amount uniform, horse equipment, and weapons details mentioned. This book has a wealth of quotes and facts. Warning: his references should be verified first, I found omissions and mistakes that question Mr. Ward's accuracy.
For the new readers on who General Forrest was read Jack Hurst book 'Nathan Bedford Forrest'.
For the military operations of General Forrest read 'The Devil Forrest' by John Allan Wyeth
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When you finish the book write your own review and we'll debate it. Set a time and we'll announce it to the board so everyone gets to see what arguements both of us come up with.
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David Upton