Discusses how to plan a staff ride of a battlefield, such as a Civil War battlefield, as part of military training. This brochure demonstrates how a staff ride can be made available to military leaders throughout the Army, not just those in the formal education system.

Includes over 30 maps and Illustrations The Staff Ride Handbook for the Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863, provides a systematic approach to the analysis of this key Civil War campaign. Part I describes the organization of the Union and Confederate Armies, detailing their weapons, tactics, and logistical, engineer, communications, and medical support. It also includes a description of the U.S. Navy elements that featured so prominently in the campaign. Part II consists of a campaign overview that establishes the context for the individual actions to be studied in the field. Part III consists of a suggested itinerary of sites to visit in order to obtain a concrete view of the campaign in its several phases. For each site, or “stand,” there is a set of travel directions, a discussion of the action that occurred there, and vignettes by participants in the campaign that further explain the action and which also allow the student to sense the human “face of battle.” Part IV provides practical information on conducting a Staff Ride in the Vicksburg area, including sources of assistance and logistical considerations. Appendix A outlines the order of battle for the significant actions in the campaign. Appendix B provides biographical sketches of key participants. Appendix C provides an overview of Medal of Honor conferral in the campaign. An annotated bibliography suggests sources for preliminary study.

In the early 2000s in a top secret facility located deep beneath Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, years of research on time travel technology by the United States military finally comes together. But the initial excitement soon wanes when a startling reality surfaces and captures a moral dilemma. Suddenly, everyone is speculating what will happen if they start changing history. As the team, led by United States Army Colonel Barton Stauffer, begins testing the new time technology using the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg as an experimental bed, they focus on placing a defensive temporal capability in position before other global powers can develop time travel capabilities of their own. But harnessing time proves challenging, and Stauffer's team soon discovers that their technology is inadequate. As incredible temporal energies are mistakenly unleashed, army officers begin disappearing into brilliant flashes of light. Stauffer soon realizes his team is doing much more than just observing battlefields through observation portals—they possess the ability to reset history for all humankind. All it takes is a flip of a switch to return to the beginning and halt the project. Now Stauffer must decide which is more important—leaving the past as it was or saving the future.

The US Army has used Civil War and other battlefields as “outdoor classrooms” to educate and train its officers. Since 1983 the Combat Studies Institute has produced a series of staff ride guides to assist units and classes in this training. The Confederate counteroffensive defeated Union hopes to end the war in 1862. However, by mid-October, hard on the heels of the broad Confederate advance the Union forces had regained the strategic and operational advantage. Union victories at Antietam in the east and Perryville in the west carried significant weight in determining the final outcome of the conflict. While vast literature surrounds the former battle, Perryville has been somewhat neglected. This work seeks to alleviate that lacuna. This Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Perryville, 8 October 1862, is a valuable study that examines the key considerations in planning and executing the September-October campaign and battle. Modern tacticians and operational planners will find themes that still resonate. Cameron demonstrates that Civil War leaders met their challenging responsibilities with planning, discipline, ingenuity, leadership, and persistence—themes that are well worth continued reflection by today’s officers.

Illustrated with 9 figures and 11 maps of the campaign and engagements at Perryville. The battle of Perryville symbolized the high-water mark of the Confederacy in the western theater of operations. In Aug. 1862 General Braxton Bragg and Major General (MG) Edmund Kirby Smith led separate armies into Kentucky to wrest the state from the Union and install a Confederate governor. They initially met success and captured the state capital, simultaneously shifting the war in the west from northern Mississippi and Alabama to Kentucky. In response the North raised additional forces to protect Cincinnati and Louisville while MG Don Carlos Buell halted his offensive against Chattanooga and marched his Army of the Ohio back to Kentucky. On 8 Oct. 1862 Buell’s army clashed with Bragg’s at Perryville. The Confederates achieved a tactical success in a hard-fought engagement that generated more than 7,000 casualties. Of the regiments engaged, 10 suffered losses between 40 and 60 percent. However, outnumbered by three to one, Bragg’s army could not sustain its victory and withdrew. Within days of the battle, all of the invading Southern forces retired from the state. Kentucky remained firmly in the Union and secure from Confederate invasion for the war’s duration. Despite its importance to the course of the war in the west, Perryville does not benefit from the high visibility accorded the better-known Civil War sites such as Manassas, Gettysburg, Antietam, and Chickamauga. Although more than 70,000 Union and Confederate soldiers deployed in and around Perryville, understanding of the battle and its significance to the overall course of the war remains poor. For staff ride purposes this unfamiliarity can be a benefit. It forces the participants to study and think about the situation facing their Civil War counterparts without the preconceived notions that surround the more popular sites.