The Military Memoirs of General John Pope

by Cozzens, Peter; Girardi, Robert I.; Pope, John

• ISBN13: 9780807824443
• ISBN10: 0807824445
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

Union general John Pope was among the most controversial and misunderstood figures to hold major command during the Civil War. Before being called east in June 1862 to lead the Army of Virginia against General Robert E. Lee, he compiled an enviable record in Missouri and as commander of the Army of the Mississippi. After his ignominious defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, he was sent to the frontier. Over the next twenty-four years Pope held important department commands on the western plains and was recognized as one of the army's leading authorities on Indian affairs, but he never again commanded troops in battle.In 1886, Pope was engaged by theNational Tribune, a weekly newspaper published in Washington, D.C., to write a series of articles on his wartime experiences. Over the next five years, in twenty-nine installments, he wrote about the war as he had lived it. Collected here for the first time, Pope's "war reminiscences" join a select roster of memoirs written by Civil War army commanders.Pope presents a detailed review of the campaigns in which he participated and offers vivid character sketches of such illustrious figures as Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Clearly written and balanced in tone, his memoirs are a dramatic and important addition to the literature on the Civil War.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD	xi	(4)
John Y. Simon
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xv	(2)
INTRODUCTION	xvii
Part One. Missouri in 1861	3	(40)
1 The Rush to the Ranks	3	(12)
2 An Unpleasant Page of History	15	(6)
3 Quiet and Good Order Are of All Things Desirable	21	(22)
Part Two. New Madrid and Island No. 10	43	(18)
4 The Conduct of the Troops Was Splendid	43	(18)
Part Three. The Siege of Corinth	61	(52)
5 We Sauntered Along Slowly	61	(15)
6 Confederate Generals at Corinth	76	(12)
7 Federal Generals at Corinth	88	(17)
8 We Frittered Away Our Strength	105	(8)
Part Four. The Second Bull Run Campaign	113	(60)
9 Summoned East: I Was Most Reluctant to Leave	113	(13)
10 The Battle of Cedar Mountain: Always a Source of Regret	126	(17)
11 Leave Pope to Get Out of His Scrape	143	(30)
Part Five. Miscellaneous Recollections	173	(44)
12 Abraham Lincoln	173	(15)
13 The Mexican War and Washington in 1861	188	(17)
14 Prominent Confederates	205	(5)
15 West Pointers to the Front	210	(7)
APPENDIX A Postwar Correspondence between Pope and the Comte de Paris Pertaining to the Second Bull Run Campaign	217	(22)
APPENDIX B Pope's Memoirs in the National Tribune	239	(4)
NOTES	243	(38)
INDEX	281