The Devil’s Own Purgatory The United States Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War

Book cover of “The Devil’s Own Purgatory: The United States Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War” by Robert Gudmestad, with an illustration of ironclad warships firing on a river

The Devil’s Own Purgatory is the first complete history of the Union navy’s Mississippi Squadron, a fleet that prowled the Mississippi River and its tributaries during the American Civil War. The squadron battered Confederate forts, participated in combined operations with the army, obliterated the Confederate fleet, protected Union supply lines, fought a river-based counterinsurgency war, raided plantations, and facilitated the freedom of thousands of enslaved people.

Book purchases can be made through the LSU Press as well as Amazon.

Robert Gudmestad is professor of history at Colorado State University. He is the author of A Troublesome Commerce: The Transformation of the Interstate Slave Trade and Steamboats and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom. 

Contact Robert: robert.gudmestad@colostate.edu

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The Devil's Own Purgatory book cover with an image of fighting on the Mississippi River.

Professor of History Robert Gudmestad publishes first full account of the Civil War-era Mississippi River Squadron

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