Booknotes: Decisions on Western Waters

New Arrival:

• Decisions on Western Waters: The Twenty-Seven Critical Decisions That Defined the Battles by Michael D. Becker (U Tenn Press, 2026).

Decisions on Western Waters is a pretty major departure from the standard Command Decisions in America's Civil War series volume. Whereas every earlier installment, numbering well over two dozen and counting, addressed a single campaign or battle, Michael Becker's new contribution explores the decision-making behind a series of related operations spread over years, the unifying theme being the struggle for control of the Mississippi River Valley.

From the description: "At the outset of the Civil War, General Winfield Scott drafted the Anaconda Plan, an ambitious strategy to blockade southern ports and use army forces supported by naval gunboats to secure control of the Mississippi River for the Union, effectively dividing the Confederacy in two. Over the course of the campaign, General Grant’s ground forces closely cooperated with river forces under the leadership of Flag Officers Andrew H. Foote and David Dixon Porter, as well as Rear Admiral David Farragut, to successfully seize Confederate strongholds along the Mississippi River and its tributaries."

While the central 1861-63 contest ended in Union triumph after successful conclusions to the twin sieges at Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the Union Brown Water Navy had to both maintain those gains and still directly support further combined operations. The volume's packet of critical decisions, arranged in four yearly chapters, are thus heavily concentrated in the years 1861-63, with two additional decisions related to the 1864 Red River Campaign.

More from the description: Decisions on Western Waters "explores the critical decisions made by Confederate and Federal politicians and commanders during the campaign that shaped its outcome. Rather than offering a linear history of the campaign, Michael D. Becker homes in on decisions made by both sides of the contest to provide a clear blueprint of the campaign development and conduct at its tactical core."

The driving tour, which stretches from the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers all the way down to Fort Jackson below New Orleans, has to the longest of the series. Also included are comprehensive combat and support vessel lists for each major operation.

I'm looking forward to reading this, and it will be interesting to see if the series continues to expand its scope in other directions.