Union General is the first biography of Samuel Ryan Curtis, the most
important and most successful general on either side in the Civil War
west of the Mississippi River. Curtis was a West Point graduate, Mexican
War veteran, and determined foe of secession who gave up his seat in
Congress to fight for the Union. At Pea Ridge in 1862 and Westport in
1864, he marched hundreds of miles across hostile countryside, routed
Confederate armies larger than his own, and reestablished Federal
control over large swathes of rebel territory.
In addition to his remarkable success as a largely independent field
commander, Curtis was one of only a handful of abolitionist generals in
the Union army. He dealt a heavy blow to slavery in the
Trans-Mississippi and Mississippi Valley months before the Emancipation
Proclamation went into effect. His enlightened racial policies and
practices generated a storm of criticism and led to his temporary
suspension in the middle of the conflict--but he was restored to active
duty in time to win a crushing victory at Westport, where he saved
Kansas and put an end to Price's Raid.
Before the war Curtis was an accomplished civil engineer, a prime mover
of the transcontinental railroad, and an important figure in the
emerging Republican Party and was elected three times to the House of
Representatives from Iowa. After the war he participated in pioneering
efforts in peacemaking with the Plains Indians and helped oversee
construction of the Union Pacific across Nebraska. This biography
restores Curtis to his rightful place in American history and adds
significantly to our understanding of the Civil War.
