Roughshod Through Dixie

On April 17, 1863 Benjamin Grierson led a force of 1,700 Union cavalrymen across enemy lines into the Confederate-held Tennessee in a bold diversionary raid. Over the next seventeen days, Grierson's horsemen caused havoc by destroying railroad lines, attacking outposts, burning military stores and fighting numerous small actions, before breaking back through the lines at Baton Rouge. The raid was a tremendous success, not only by virtue of the destruction it caused, but also because the Confederates were forced to divert thousands of troops away from the front lines during General Grant's critical Vicksburg offensive. This book tells the complete story of one of the most daring Union raids of the war.

Mark Lardas holds a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, but spent his early career at the Johnson Space Center doing Space Shuttle structural analysis, and space navigation. An amateur historian and a long-time ship modeler, Mark Lardas is currently working in League City, Texas. He has written extensively about modeling as well as naval, maritime, and military history. The author lives in League City, TX.

Introduction Origins The Plan The Raid Aftermath Analysis Further Reading