Appointed by President Lincoln to command the Gulf Department in 
November 1862, Nathaniel Prentice Banks was given three 
assignments, one of which was to occupy some point in Texas. He 
was told that when he united his army with Grant's, he would assume 
command of both. Banks, then, had the opportunity to become the 
leading general in the West—perhaps the most important general in 
the war. But he squandered what successes he had, never 
rendezvoused with Grant's army, and ultimately orchestrated some of 
the greatest military blunders of the war. "Banks's faults as a 
general," writes author Stephen A. Dupree, "were legion."

    The originality of Planting the Union Flag in Texas lies not just 
in the author's description of the battles and campaigns Banks led, 
nor in his recognition of the character traits that underlay Banks's 
decisions. Rather, it lies in how Dupree synthesizes his studies of 
Banks's various actions during his tour of duty in and near Texas to 
help the reader understand them as a unified campaign. He skillfully 
weaves together Banks's various attempts to gain Union control of 
Texas with his other activities and shines the light of Banks's 
character on the resulting events to help explain both their potential 
and their shortcomings.

    In the end, readers will have a holistic understanding of Banks's 
"appalling" failure to win Texas and may even be led to ask how the 
post–Civil War era might have been different had he been successful. 
This fine study will appeal to Civil War buffs and fans of military and 
Texas history.

_________________________________________________________

STEPHEN A. DUPREE is retired from Sandia National Laboratories, 
where he served as an expert in nuclear nonproliferation, international 
safeguards, and the detection and analysis of nuclear radiation. A 
lifelong interest in the Civil War, especially actions in the Southwest, 
led to the research for this book. Dupree holds a Ph.D. in nuclear 
engineering from Purdue University. He lives in Albuquerque, New 
Mexico.


Number Two: Red River Valley Books, sponsored by Texas A&M 
University–Texarkana


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