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:
"This is a marvelous book that belongs on the shelf of anyone seriously interested in the war's naval component. . . . it is the first significant exploration of the brown-water
navy's contribution to emancipation. . . . There is good history, and there is important history--this book is both."