"The Battle of Brice's Crossroads" by Stewart L. Bennett

I picked up a signed copy of Stewart L. Bennett's "The Battle of Brice's Crossroads at visitor center in Baldwyn.

Bennett makes the battle easy to understand, and the book has a very nice flow.

Roughly, Sherman was hoping that the CSA's Nathan Bedford Forrest could be kept occupied and away from his forces and plans....

The Federals had General Sturgis available for the job, who had mixed reviews as far as success goes.  He would keep Forrest occupied, but he would ultimately suffer an embarrassing defeat at this battle.  Like many union leaders, he would greatly overestimate his opponents numbers.  

Forrest, of course, was great at fooling his opponents into thinking his forces were much bigger.  Art the end of the day, his roughly 3500 man force chased and soundly defeated a US force of around 8000.  Sturgis would report that Forrest must have had 15-20,000.

The heat and mud worked against the soldiers, specifically the federals - but the crafty Confederate Forrest was the star of the fight.

Bennett gives all of the important details of the battle and I am really glad I picked this volume up about the Battle of Brice's Crossroads.