Civil_War_Quarterly_-_Summer_2016_

learned much in the interim.

By the third year of the Civil War, the

Union had gained the upper hand over the

Confederacy, but the casualty lists were

seemingly endless. Powerful Copperhead

politicians in the North called for peace

overtures, and Southern pride and com-

bativeness were as robust as ever. Adding a

political dimension to the continuing con-

flict, 1864 was an election year, and when

the voters, civilian and military, cast their

ballots that November, the world would

know the results of a referendum on the

administration of Abraham Lincoln and his

conduct of the war.

Amid the jumble of political uncertainty,

unfinished military business remained, and

the Trans-Mississippi West was coming

sharply into focus. While the U.S. Navy

had maintained a tight blockade of major

Southern coastal cities throughout the war,

the ports of Mexico were beyond its reach.

Ships laden with cargoes of arms, ammu-

All: Library of Congress 33

Clambering over felled trees, Union troops under

Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Mower capture the Confederate

strongpoint at Fort DeRussy, one of their few suc-

cesses in the Red River campaign.

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