Bull run, Gettysburg, Appomattox. For Americans, these battlegrounds, all located in the eastern United States, will forever be associated with the Civil War. But few realize that the Civil War took place in the remote deserts of the future state of Arizona.
In this first book-length account of the Civil War in Arizona, Andrew E. Masich offers both a lively narrative history of the all-but-forgotten California Column in wartime Arizona and a rare compilation of letters written by the volunteer soldiers who served in the U.S. Army from 1861 to 1866. Enriched by Masich's meticulous annotation, these letters provide firsthand testimony of the gruelling desert conditions the soldiers endured as they fought on many fronts.
(Paperback)