Confederate Bushwhacker is a microbiography set in the most important and pivotal year in the life of its subject. In 1885, Mark Twain was at the peak of his career as an author and a businessman, as his own publishing firm brought out not only the U.S. edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but also the triumphantly successful Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. Twenty years after the end of the Civil War, Twain finally tells the story of his past as a deserter from the losing side, while simultaneously befriending and publishing the general from the winning side. Coincidentally, the year also marks the beginning of TwainÕs descent into misfortune, his transformation from a humorist into a pessimist and determinist. Interwoven throughout this portrait are the headlines and crises of 1885Ñblack lynchings, Indian uprisings, anti-Chinese violence, labor unrest, and the death of Grant. The year was at once TwainÕs annus mirabilis and the year of his undoing. The meticulous treatment of this single year by the esteemed biographer Jerome Loving enables him to look backward and forward to capture both Twain and the country at large in a time of crisis and transformation.

Soldier or vicious killer? Examine history to decide. As a very young man bent on revenge after his sister's rape and murder, John P. Gatewood deserts the Confederate forces and returns to his Tennessee home. There he joins a group of Confederate bushwhackers and, as the "Red Headed Beast of Georgia, " carries out a bloody rampage of strikes against Union sympathizers, both military and civilian alike. This closely researched study tells his story from boyhood to the postwar years and his attempt to adapt to civilian life. A fascinating read for any history buff!

"This book examines the guerilla experience and then traces its progresion from the Western Theater in 1861 to its apogee in the East in the last two years of the war."--Pg. 5.

In this brilliant biography T. J. Stiles offers a new understanding of the legendary outlaw Jesse James. Although he has often been portrayed as a Robin Hood of the old west, in this ground-breaking work Stiles places James within the context of the bloody conflicts of the Civil War to reveal a much more complicated and significant figure. "Carries the reader scrupulously through James’s violent, violent life.... When [Stiles]… calls Jesse James the ‘last rebel of the Civil War; he correctly defines the theme that ruled Jesse’s life." —Larry McMurtry, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove via The New Republic Raised in a fiercely pro-slavery household in bitterly divided Missouri, at age sixteen James became a bushwhacker, one of the savage Confederate guerrillas that terrorized the border states. After the end of the war, James continued his campaign of robbery and murder into the brutal era of reconstruction, when his reckless daring, his partisan pronouncements, and his alliance with the sympathetic editor John Newman Edwards placed him squarely at the forefront of the former Confederates’ bid to recapture political power. With meticulous research and vivid accounts of the dramatic adventures of the famous gunman, T. J. Stiles shows how he resembles not the apolitical hero of legend, but rather a figure ready to use violence to command attention for a political cause—in many ways, a forerunner of the modern terrorist.

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The award-winning author provides “a look at the women who supported the male border raiders . . . includes heartrending stories from a savage war” (HistoryNet). In this fascinating look at an often overlooked subject, historian Larry Wood delves into the hidden lives of the brave belles of Missouri. Sometimes connected by blood but always united in purpose, these wives, sisters, daughters, lovers, friends, and mothers risked their lives and their freedom to give aid and comfort to their menfolk. They used subterfuge and occasionally sheer luck to feed, clothe, and shelter the guerrillas. These courageous women of every age and station acted as essential go-betweens, scouts, spies, guides, and mail handlers. They often joined in on the bushwhackers’ campaigns, assisting them in any way possible. They even received and traded stolen property for their Confederate brethren. Many of the women were arrested or banished from their home state of Missouri; many were forced to give an oath of allegiance to the Union in order to gain their freedom; a few were able to carry out their clandestine missions undetected. Wood traces these women through their own diaries and other primary sources from the era. The poignant tales of these women are punctuated by images of many of them; the stiff, posed portraits give silent testimony to their resiliency and strength during tumultuous times. “A fascinating glimpse into the irregular warfare that embroiled the state during the Civil War.” —Jefferson City News Tribune

The true story of one man's reluctant but relentless war against the invaders of his country.A quiet, wealthy plantation owner, Jack Hinson watched the start of the Civil War with disinterest. Opposed to secession and a friend to Union and Confederate commanders alike, he did not want a war. After Union soldiers seized and murdered his sons, placing their decapitated heads on the gateposts of his estate, Hinson could remain indifferent no longer. He commissioned a special rifle for long-range accuracy, he took to the woods, and he set out for revenge. This remarkable biography presents the story of Jack Hinson, a lone Confederate sniper who, at the age of 57, waged a personal war on Grant's army and navy. The result of 15 years of scholarship, this meticulously researched and beautifully written work is the only account of Hinson's life ever recorded and involves an unbelievable cast of characters, including the Earp brothers, Jesse James, and Nathan Bedford Forrest.

While the Civil War rages in Missouri and Rebels destroy their farm home and scatter their family, thirteen-year-old Jacob and his younger sister find refuge in an unlikely place.

Intro -- Halftitle Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Author's Note -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: A Curiosity and Specimen -- Chapter 1: Household War -- Chapter 2: Rebel Kin -- Chapter 3: The Hired Hand -- Chapter 4: Rebel Foodways -- Chapter 5: The Rebel Style -- Chapter 6: The Rebel Horseman -- Chapter 7: The Rebel Gun -- Chapter 8: The Rebel Bushwhacker -- Coda: The Empty Graves of Killers -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- Appendix 3 -- Appendix 4 -- Appendix 5 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index