The March to the River: From the Battle of Pea Ridge to Helena, Spring 1862

The March to the River is the first detailed study of the campaign of Samuel R. Curtis’s Army of the Southwest following its important victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas (March 7-8, 1862). After the retreat of Earl Van Dorn’s Confederate army, General Curtis’s next obvious move was to capture Little Rock, the state capital. With the removal of almost all Confederate fighting forces from the state following the battle, Confederate authorities sought solutions to the menace of the Curtis’s army, which was occupying Batesville and Jacksonport and threatening Little Rock. The Northern army, after an epic march through inhospitable country, was faced with numerous problems of supplying these outposts in the face of rising attacks by both guerrillas and newly-formed Confederate regulars. Ultimately, Curtis had to abandon his attempt at Little Rock and led his army through to Helena, arriving in mid-July. Robert Schultz has thoroughly researched this ground-breaking study in private archives, period newspaper accounts, published and unpublished soldiers’ diaries, letters, and memoirs, and the Army and Navy Official Records. Robert G. Schultz is a retired chemist and history teacher who has written and spoken extensively about the Civil War in Missouri and the Trans-Mississippi.