This image is the cover for the book Jo Shelby's Iron Brigade

Jo Shelby's Iron Brigade

An in-depth biography of the Confederate cavalry commander who fought in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War.

When the Confederacy collapsed, Gen. Joseph Orville Shelby refused to surrender. In 1861 he had started a Missouri company that grew into the greatest Confederate cavalry brigade west of the Mississippi. This book follows the triumphs of the Brigade of the Confederate States Army all the way to the crossing of a contingent of the brigade into Mexico at the end of the war.

A planter and rope manufacturer from Kentucky, Shelby operated entirely in the trans-Mississippi West. He served in the Missouri State Guard as a company commander at Carthage, Wilson’s Creek, and Pea Ridge. He then returned to Missouri to raise a regiment. A daring raid to the Missouri River in the fall of 1863 earned him a promotion to brigadier general. Shelby's Brigade fought valiantly at the Battle of Westport, the Gettysburg of the West, and repeatedly saved Gen. Sterling Price's army from capture on the retreat south.

A descendant of a Shelby’s Brigade member, Deryl P. Sellmeyer offers an evenhanded view of this impressive military leader and his men. The author’s decades-long research of Shelby’s life and his principal officers is evident as he details the history of the famous brigade.

Jo Shelby's Iron Brigade

While reading Battles and Leaders of the Civil War in 1977, Deryl Sellmeyer stumbled across mention of a cavalry fight at Prairie DíAne, Arkansas. He recalled the name as a battle mentioned in a brief biography his late grandmother had given him of her grandfatherís life. He realized that her grandfather, a soldier in Shelbyís Brigade, had fought at Prairie DíAne, and he was hooked. He began researching voraciously, and his interest never waned. In 1983, he self-published his first book, Saline County Soldier, a brief biography of his great-great-grandfatherís service in the Civil War. After retiring in 2003, Mr. Sellmeyer completely devoted his time to completing his manuscript of the history of Shelbyís Brigade.

Pelican Publishing