Joseph O. “Jo” Shelby’s Confederate “Iron Brigade” enters Missouri and conducts the longest raid of the war.

Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
Joseph O. “Jo” Shelby’s Confederate “Iron Brigade” enters Missouri and conducts the longest raid of the war.
Southerners endure greater hardships than ever before, especially west of the Mississippi River. This leads to growing unrest and discontent.
The Confederate high command reorganizes the Trans-Mississippi Department in the hopes that the recent disasters might somehow be reversed.
A Federal division isolated in northwestern Arkansas becomes prey to Confederates poised to not only wipe the Federals out of the state but to reenter Missouri as well.
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston finds himself at odds with President Jefferson Davis over strategy, and the Confederate secretary of war resigns.
Texas announces a state of war with the U.S., Federals in New Mexico brace for a Confederate invasion, and Confederates in Arkansas are authorized to aid the Missouri State Guard.