Extreme Civil War: Guerrilla Warfare, Environment, and Race on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier

231 Pages·2016·4.35 MB·English

by  Matthew M. Stith

EXTREME CIVIL WAR
conflicting worlds
new dimensions of the american civil war
T. Michael Parrish, Series Editor
CIVIL WAR
guerrilla warfare, environment, and race
on the trans-Mississippi Frontier
MattHew M. stitH
louisiana state university press
baton rouge
Published with the assistance of the V. Ray Cardozier Fund
Published by Louisiana State University Press
Copyright © 2016 by Louisiana State University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing
Designer: Barbara Neely Bourgoyne
Typeface: Quadraat
Printer and binder: Maple Press
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Stith, Matthew M., author.
Title: Extreme Civil War : guerrilla warfare, environment, and race on the trans-Mississippi
frontier / Matthew M. Stith.
Description: Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 2016. | Series: Conflicting worlds:
new dimensions of the American Civil War | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015042804| isbn 978-0-8071-6314-6 (cloth : alk. paper) | isbn
978-0-8071-6315-3 (pdf) | isbn 978-0-8071-6316-0 (epub) | isbn 978-0-8071-6317-7 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Southwest, Old—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Underground movements.
| Southwest, Old—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Commando operations. | Southwest,
Old—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Campaigns. | United States—History—Civil War,
1861–1865—Underground movements. | United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—
Commando operations. | United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Campaigns. |
Guerrilla warfare—Southwest, Old—History—19th century. | Guerrilla warfare—United
States—History—19th century.
Classification: LCC E470.45 .S75 2016 | DDC 979/.02—dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042804
Part of this book was previously published as “The Deplorable Condition of the Country: Nature,
Society, and War on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier,” Civil War History 58:3 (September 2012).
Copyright 2012 by The Kent State University Press. Reprinted with permission.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources.
CONTENTS
acknowledgments • vii
Introduction • 1
1 “Ripe for the Harvest”
The Border before the War, 1860–1861 • 19
2 “Civil War Was Fully Inaugurated”
The Border War, 1861 • 33
3 “The Depth of Misfortune and Misery”
Regular and Irregular War, 1862 • 50
4 “The Arch Fiend Could Desire Nothing More”
The Devolution of War, 1863 • 91
5 “Deplorable Condition of the Country”
Civilization Extirpated, 1864–1865 • 121
Conclusion • 157
notes • 167
bibliography • 187
index • 213
Illustrations follow page 84
This page intentionally left blank
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I owe a lot to many people, and I will try my best to thank them properly.
The genesis of Extreme Civil War can be traced back to Virginia J. Laas’s
Missouri history class at Missouri Southern State University. Laas taught
me how to be a historian and encouraged my work on the guerrilla war. She
also took the class on a trip to the Jasper County Records Center in Carthage,
Missouri, to dig around in original primary-source material. There I found
boxes of post–Civil War court records full of civilian lawsuits against alleged
guerrillas. This discovery, together with Laas’s mentorship and the wonderful
records-center staff, started me on the path to explore the complex story of
irregular warfare on the border. Records-center director Steve Weldon helped
refine my earliest ideas and provided countless hours of excellent conver-
sation. I also owe a great deal to local-records archivist Linda Myers and
Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield historian Connie Langum, both of whom
I was fortunate to work with (and learn from) early in my academic career.
Although the book idea started in southwest Missouri, it came far closer
to reality in northwest Arkansas. First and foremost, Daniel E. Sutherland
at the University of Arkansas proved unerringly helpful as I struggled to
make sense of my research and ideas. His patient advice and encouragement
serves as yet more proof that he is one of the top scholars thinking and
writing about the past today. Any student or scholar who has been fortunate
enough to work with Sutherland knows he is also among the finest advisors
and mentors in the field. Elliott West influenced my thinking significantly,
especially in terms of the environment and its direct and ubiquitous role
• vii •
viii • acknowledgments
in shaping the war. West’s humor and knack for making a good story out
of the complex past is inspirational, and his advice and encouragement for
this project proved invaluable. Thanks also to Patrick G. Williams. Anyone
who knows him will know that he is the epitome of a careful, patient, and
exacting scholar. Williams has served as a model not only for my thinking
as a historian but also for that of multiple generations of graduate students
at the University of Arkansas.
Many other scholars have directly or indirectly shaped this book. Thanks
to Lisa M. Brady and Megan Kate Nelson for their advice at different stages
of this project and for their own important work on Civil War environmental
history. Thanks also to my good friend and colleague Alan Thompson at
Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park. Thompson is one of the best scholars
I know and, thanks to an ongoing decade-long conversation, has helped
shape my thinking about the guerrilla war and the Civil War generally. I am
also indebted to great friends from the University of Arkansas, including
Geoffrey Jensen and Jeremy Taylor, who are top-notch scholars and have
shown enthusiasm and support from the earliest stages, and especially Scott
Cashion and David Schieffler, who have spent countless hours over the years
talking history and other things; this work has benefitted enormously from
those conversations.
Several people helped shepherd the manuscript into book form over the
past year. I am thrilled and honored to have this project published as part
of T. Michael Parrish’s exceptional Conflicting Worlds series. Parrish proved
patient, supportive, and incredibly helpful at every step of the process,
reading multiple drafts and helping me refine, clarify, and strengthen my
ideas and contentions. Kevin Brock used his superb copyediting ability to
help clarify those contentions; I see now why so many call him one of the
best in the business. Finally, Rand Dotson at Louisiana State University Press
patiently walked me through the publication process and helped make the
experience positive and rewarding.
On the research trail I received a great deal of generous support. At the
University of Arkansas I benefited enormously from the advice and encour-
agement of the late Willard B. Gatewood and was fortunate to receive the
Gatewood Fellowship in Southern History and the James J. Hudson Fellow-
ship for Research Support. Thanks to the Missouri State Archives in Jefferson
acknowledgments • ix
City, which funded a week of fruitful research through the William E. Foley
Fellowship. Librarians and archivists at a number of libraries and research
facilities made research an even-more-enjoyable and rewarding experience.
Thanks to the staff at the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections
at Duke University; the Southern Historical Collection at the University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the National Archives and Records Administra-
tion in Washington, D.C.; the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka; the
Missouri State Archives in Jefferson City; the Arkansas History Commission
in Little Rock; and the Missouri Historical Society in Saint Louis. Geoffrey
Starks of the Special Collections at the University of Arkansas Libraries
proved that the university’s research support is among the finest in the
country. Thanks also to Alan Chilton at Wilson’s Creek, formerly at Fort
Scott National Historic Site, who provided a plethora of valuable research
material. Finally, Howard Rockwell and the Interlibrary Loan staff at the
University of Texas at Tyler’s Muntz Library helped bring copious amounts
of material to my doorstep—or at least very close to it.
I appreciate the support and friendship provided by my friends and col-
leagues at the University of Texas at Tyler. Thanks to my fellow historians
Melissa Dotson, Pat Gajda, Mickie Koster, James Newsom, Colin Snider, and
Ed Tabri. Other friends and colleagues have made working at the university
great fun, particularly Tom Guderjan, Randy LeBlanc, Eric Lopez, Cory Sills,
Bob Sterken, and Amentahru Wahlrab. My appreciation extends to Marcus
Stadelmann for his support and encouragement as department chair and
colleague. Finally, thanks to Vicki Betts at the university’s Muntz Library for
her help, encouragement, and infectious enthusiasm for uncovering and
understanding the past. The faculty and staff in Tyler are incredibly fortu-
nate to have such a top-notch librarian on campus, and Civil War historians
everywhere benefit from her thorough and exhaustive research.
Finally, my friends and family outside of academia have been enormously
supportive. Jim Beien has provided encouragement and good conversation
over the years. My mom and sister gave me their good-natured support even
when they were probably tired of hearing about the project. But most of
all, thanks to Melissa Ann, Lorelei, and Wyatt, who together have made my
nonscholarly life the best anyone could possibly ask for. They have made it
all worthwhile.