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 was also fought far to the west of these sites. The westernmost battle of the 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 grueling desert conditions the soldiers endured as they fought on many fronts.

Southwest Book Award
Border Regional Library Association

Southwest Book of the Year
Pima County Public Library

NYMAS Civil War Book Award
New York Military Affairs Symposium

About the Author
Andrew E. Masich is President and CEO of the Smithsonian-affiliated Senator John Heinz History Center and teaches history at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He is author of The Civil War in Arizona: The Story of the California Volunteers, 1861-1865 and coauthor of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers: A Ledgerbook History of Coups and Combat and Halfbreed: The Remarkable True Story of George Bent.



Book Information
ISBN 9780806139005
Author Andrew E. Masich
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint University of Oklahoma Press
Publisher University of Oklahoma Press
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 24mm