Ezra J Warner

Civil Warriors » The Pea Ridge Staff Ride – Pt. 1

After the success of the May 2009 staff ride of the 1862 Maryland Campaign staff ride chronicled starting here , my partner in instructional crime, Dr. Terry Beckenbaugh was able to secure authorization to teach another staff ride elective at CGSC, this time with the 1862 Pea Ridge Campaign as its focus. (Terry is an uber-expert on the war in Arkansas in 1862, having done his doctoral research at the University of Arkansas under Dan Sutherland on the subject.) The first iteration ran last year with me assisting Terry, while a second was completed a few weeks ago without me, as I was teaching an elective on World War I instead.

Before the actual ride, the instructional team and students went through a prep phase, which consisted of six class meetings in which they discussed the following subjects based on the following readings:

Lesson 7 and 8: Character Briefs

Each student will be assigned one or more of the major participants in the Pea Ridge Campaign who they will provide a short (about 15-20 minutes) brief on to the rest of the class on 11 or 13 April. The brief will cover the individual’s life and military career up to, including and after the Civil War (skipping the details of the Pea Ridge Campaign), and offer some insights into his character if possible.

You should be able to find all the information you need to put together a satisfactory brief on your subject(s) in general reference works on the Civil War. Those listed below can be found in the reference section of CARL. Of course, you should feel free to go beyond these sources in the course of your research if you wish to do so.

Generals in Gray, Lives of the Confederate Commanders

Generals in Blue, Lives of the Union Commanders

Biographical register of the Confederate Congress

Records and briefs of the United States Supreme Court

Generals in blue; lives of the Union commanders, by Ezra J. Warner