Decision in the Heartland—The Civil War in the West
by Steven E. Woodworth, Praeger Publishing
Civil War historiography has been dominated by Eastern theater historians, generals and battles ever since the war ended. Fortunately, there has been a rethinking of such one-sided bias in the past few decades. There is no more important historian in this revisionist movement than Steven E. Woodworth. His latest effort is an examination of the entire Western theater, arguing that the war was won and lost there instead of in the East.
Woodworth’s main argument is that while stalemate occurred in the East and little of importance occurred in the trans-Mississippi, the major Federal blows were landed on an already weak and leadership-deprived Confederate West.
But as Woodworth demonstrates, there is more to the story than mere battle records. Union victories in the West seized large swaths of territory from the Confederacy, depriving the South of resources, goods and production centers, which in turn had a drastic effect on Confederate morale and politics, particularly the 1864 presidential election. So while the conflict in the East was a bloody stalemate on a comparatively tiny strategic canvas, Union armies were “conquering a large piece of the continent,” as Woodworth writes, and winning the war.
Woodworth should be thanked for focusing on such an important topic. Perhaps his efforts will help the public at large to realize the importance of the Western theater.
Originally published in the December 2008 issue of Civil War Times. To subscribe, click here.