Work for Giants - by Parson (Paperback)

From the Back Cover

Fighting Nathan Bedford Forrest in North Mississippi

During the summer of 1864, a Union column commanded by Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson Smith set out from Tennessee with a goal that had proven impossible in all prior attempts--to find and defeat the cavalry under the command of Confederate major general Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest's cavalry was the greatest threat to the long supply line feeding Sherman's Union armies as they advanced on Atlanta.

Joined by reinforcements led by Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee, Forrest and his men were confident, and their morale had never been higher. However, for two weeks, Smith outmarched, outfought, and outmaneuvered the team of Lee and Forrest. In three days of bitter fighting, culminating in the battle at Harrisburg, the Confederates suffered a staggering defeat. Work for Giants focuses on the details of this overlooked campaign and the efforts, postbattle and postwar, to minimize the outcome and consequences of this important Union victory.

Review Quotes

"Work for Giants stands out as a model work of well-written, well-researched military history. Parson takes readers through the Tupelo Campaign's inception, conduct, and execution with a thorough study of the battles and skirmishes and concludes with an authoritative analysis of the results and how participants and historians have remembered and argued over it. He also offers rich personalized descriptions of the key players on each side, giving life to the common soldiers' experiences in their own words."--Civil War Monitor

"Work for Giants fills an important historiographical gap in our understanding of the Civil War in the West and the broader context of the Atlanta campaign. In setting the record straight about this little-remembered episode in Civil War history, Parson has provided an invaluable contribution to the literature."--Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Thomas E. Parson is a park ranger at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, a unit of Shiloh National Military Park. He is also the author of Bear Flag and Bay State in the Civil War: The Californians of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry.