by Don Roth (Author)
It can be said that the American Civil War has drawn more interest and historical scholarship than any other event in our nation's past. The War as it was fought west of the Mississippi River has perhaps been the least covered of all the aspects of the conflict. General J. O. Shelby at Clarendon, Arkansas: The Capture and Destruction of the USS Queen City addresses the cauldron of lawlessness generated by deserters from both sides behind enemy lines, while highlighting the destruction of the USS Queen City by Gen. Joseph O. Shelby. This 1864 event on the lower White River, 50 miles from the Mississippi River, marks the only sinking of a Federal warship in Arkansas waters. Considered one of the best Confederate cavalrymen to operate in the Trans-Mississippi, Shelby led his "Iron Brigade" on one of the longest cavalry raids of the Civil War.