Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
Conflict escalates west of the Mississippi River. Texas announces a state of war with the U.S., hostilities rise among Native Americans, Federals in New Mexico brace for a Confederate invasion, and Confederates in Arkansas are authorized to aid the Missouri State Guard.
The Lincoln administration tries to address the troubling divisions in Missouri with a reorganization designed to help both militarily and politically.
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.