“We Gave Them Thunder”: Marmaduke’s Raid and the Civil War in Missouri and Arkansas

Dr. William Garrett Piston offers a program on, “We Gave Them Thunder”: Marmaduke’s Raid and the Civil War in Missouri and Arkansas, the 2021 book he co-authored with John C. Rutherford. Defeat at the Battle of Prairie Grove in Arkansas on Dec. 7, 1862, left Confederate fortunes in the Trans-Mississippi in dire straits. To counter the Federal victory, Gen. Thomas C. Hindman sent Gen. John Sapping Marmaduke raiding deep into Missouri. After traversing rugged terrain in severe winter, Marmaduke’s cavalrymen struck the vulnerable Union line of communications, fighting engagements at Springfield and Hartville in early January 1863 before returning to Arkansas. Marmaduke claimed success, with some justification, but Piston will demonstrate how his campaign also demonstrated the limitations of a raiding strategy to counter Federal force’s superior resources.