He provided extensive details about a range of battles and skirmishes, and guerrilla actions, as well as assessing the influence of these engagements on the overall American Civil War and the people in Louisiana.
[1] But a reviewer for the Journal of American History suggested that perhaps Winters had tried to take on too much in one volume, and might have been more successful in treating the broad range of topics in a multi-volume work.
The reviewer criticized his organization by chronology, saying that it might be difficult for some readers to follow because he had included so many details of minor campaigns, but praised the overall effort in such a large study.
The reviewer noted that he did not appear to consult the journal Civil War History, nor a variety of repositories of primary source material in the state.
[3] Winters' work has been criticized for reflecting white racial bias toward slaves of historians of the early 20th century, particularly followers of the Dunning School.
The author's perspective is further revealed in his description of black conduct in areas occupied and later evacuated by Federal troops during General Nathaniel P. Banks' Red River expedition in 1863.
'[6]The role of free men of color in the South, in addition to the larger number of slaves, has been of increasing interest to historians.
[8] He estimates that no more than two thousand free men of color participated in Louisiana militias, with the first units of Native Guards formed in New Orleans.
He documents fifteen free men of color as having joined the Confederate Army as privates, and suggests that a small number of others saw combat.
In this hour-long conversation, he discusses varied experiences on the campus, the effects of desegregation in the 1960s, the influence of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and his participation in the Louisiana Tech-Rome studies program.