Description: "The Devil's Own Purgatory is the first complete history of the Union navy's Mississippi Squadron, a fleet that prowled the Mississippi River and its tributaries during the American Civil War. The squadron battered Confederate forts, participated in combined operations with the army, obliterated the Confederate fleet, protected Union supply lines, fought a river-based counterinsurgency war, raided plantations, and facilitated the freedom of thousands of enslaved people"-- Provided by publisher.
Brief description: Robert Gudmestad is professor of history at Colorado State University. He is the author of A Troublesome Commerce: The Transformation of the Interstate Slave Trade and Steamboats and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom.
Review Quotes: "The Devil's Own Purgatory extends the reach of this genre to the federal navy, offering a biography of the Western Gunboat Flotilla and the men who plied the Civil War's western waters. . . . Robert Gudmestad has written a definitive history that at last recovers the integral role of the brown water navies in winning the Civil War and destroying slavery. It merits a wide readership and the many accolades it is sure to receive."--Civil War Monitor