"Battle of Glorieta"

36" x 60" Original Oil

In a Beautiful, Ornate, Massive Frame

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"Wheeler and Forrest"

24" x 30" Original Water Color

$4,500

At 2PM on February 3, 1863, Confederate officers Major General Joseph (Fightin' Joe) Wheeler and Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest discussed how best to attack the Federal garrison at Ft. Dover, Tennessee.  General Wheeler, as commander of all the Cavalry in the Army of Tennessee, took 800 men to Dover to disrupt Federal navigation on the Cumberland River.  He divided the men into two Cavalry brigades, one of which was commanded by General Forrest.  Upon arrival, he learned that the Federals, being apprised of his troops, had abandoned navigation on the river, causing General Wheeler to decide to attack the heavily fortified Federal forces at Dover instead.

General Forrest did not agree with General Wheeler's decision to attack the Federal garrison.  He explained to Wheeler that the efforts needed for the attack did not promise results commensurate with the losses that an assault upon such a formidable position would entail.  However, he stated "that he and his men would do their duty as ordered".

General Forrest led two assaults against the Federals, and on both occasions had his horse shot out from under him.  He was preparing his troops for a third assault when General Wheeler, upon learning that 6,000 Federal reinforcements were only four miles away, ordered no further attacks to be made.

"Stuart and Mosby"

18" x 20" Original Water Color

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During the evening of June 18, 1863,in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, near Middleburg, the "Gray Ghost of the Confederacy", Major John Singleton Mosby, reported to the field headquarters of Major General JEB Stuart, the commander of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia.  Major Mosby had arrived at General Stuart's headquarters to deliver an intelligence report concerning the location of 7,000 troops under the command of Union Major General Alfred Pleasonton.

General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, following his victory at Chancellorsville in early May, had decided to invade Northern soil.  General Lee believed that such an offensive operation would relieve Virginia of the ravages of war by having Also, General Lee reasoned that his Confederate troops would be able to garner much needed supplies and finally, a decisive battlefield defeat of his opponents in the North might end the war the Federal army presently in Virginia follow him north.

With these objectives, General Lee directed his infantry and artillery units to travel northward down the Shenandoah Valley, across the Potomac River, through Maryland, and into Pennsylvania.  General Lee also ordered General Stuart to screen the infantry and artillery movement and keep the Federals east of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The commander of the Federal Army of the Potomac, Major General Joseph Hooker, who hand lost the strategic initiative to General Lee, dispatched his cavalry corps commanded by General Pleasonton, toward the mountain barrier to locate the Confederate infantry and artillery units.  With General Stuart and his cavalry posted on the eastern base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, protecting General Lee's army, it was paramount to General Stuart to know the whereabouts of any Federal cavalry units.

During the afternoon of June 18, 1863, Major Mosby, who had made this region of the Shenandoah Valley his main territory of operation for his band of partisan raiders, captured a Federal staff officer and found dispatches the officer was carrying from General Hooker to General Pleasonton.  The dispatches reflected not only where General Pleasonton was to concentrate his Federal Cavalry near Aldie, Virginia, but also the number of men (7,000) to be involved.

Major Mosby delivered the intelligence find to General Stuart.  General Stuart had come to expect this type of feat from Major Mosby for whom he had the highest regard.  Major Mosby also held General Stuart in the highest of esteem.  As a matter of fact, he stated in a postwar letter "The flamboyant cavalry commander, General JEB Stuart was the best friend I ever had."  General Stuart sent word, via his aides, to all Confederate units as to the whereabouts of General Pleasonton's Federal Cavalry and proceeded to attack and harass General Pleasanton's cavalry until they finally withdrew from the Blue Ridge Mountains, and were not able to find or do any damage to General Lee's army heading north.

"Brice's Crossroads"

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At 2 p.m. on June 10, 1864, at Brice's Crossroads, Mississippi, following four hours of hard fighting, the outcome of the battle was still in doubt.  Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, realizing a turning point was about to occur in the battle, decided to personally lead his dismounted Cavalry in an attack which ultimately resulted in one of the most famous Confederate victories of the Civil War.

The Battle of Brice's Crossroads occurred because the Federal Army of the Tennessee, commanded by General William T. Sherman, while fighting the Confederates in Georgia, was concerned about his supply lines being destroyed.  His chief worry was of General Forrest destroying his railroad lines.  He directed General Samuel D. Sturgis, with a force of over 8,200 men to capture and destroy General Forrest and his 4,900 men.

On June 1, 1864 General Sturgis and his army departed Memphis, Tennessee.  General Forrest, upon becoming aware of General Sturgis' mission, decided to attack them at Brice's Crossroads.  General Forrest said, "I know they greatly outnumber the troops I have, but the road along which they will march is narrow and muddy and with it being so hot, they will make slow progress.  The country is densely wooded and the undergrowth so heavy that when we strike them, they will not know how few men we have."

General Forrest detected the Federals launching their 2 p.m. assault and knew that if the assault was successful, it would be disastrous for the Confederates.  He dismounted from his horse, instructing his two escort companies to dismount and follow him.  He then rushed into the fray with a pistol in hand, while urging his troops forward.  The Confederates, upon seeing General Forrest out front, not only rallied around him and stopped the Federal assault, but began an assault of their own upon the Federals.

The results of the "Battle of Brice's Crossroads" were just the way General Forrest had predicted.  The battle was General Forrest's greatest victory and characterized his aggressive method of warfare and reflected his ability as a military strategist.