If you really want to learn more about the Confederate guerrillas and the war on the Missouri/Kansas border, you will want to take advantage of these resources. I limit the list to books I have read or used as references myself. There may be other good books on the subject that I have not had the chance to read as yet.
One thing to keep in mind, the border war was (and still is) a subject that sparks the emotions. It is difficult to study the period without being forced to make some judgement as to which side of the fight you would favor. The same is true of most authors. Virtually everything written on the subject is biased but I did separate the books I have found most biased into a separate section. Bias is not necessarily a bad thing though; since all of us will tend to form our own bias concerning the subject, it is very helpful to be challenged by the extremists from the other side. When our biases are challenged we can truly learn.
Another thing to note is that the contemporaries of William Clarke Quantrill generally misspelled his name. The most common spelling at the time was with an "e," "Quantrell." Some spelled it with variations like "Cantrell." You will see these various spellings in the source materials and the books written during and shortly after the border war.
Undoubtedly, I will have missed some terrific titles here. If you know of any others you would like to recommend, please let me know. For some authors, the list would be too exhaustive so I have adopted a method of listing something representative of their work.
There are many sources for these books. Typically, I find the book I want at the library and bring it home for a "test drive" before I spend money to obtain it. After deciding that I want a particular book, I first try the following suppliers:
Generally, either of these fine folks will have the book I want on the war in the west. Where I know of an author's website, I tried to link them with their book in the listings below. In the case of at least on book, the author is virtually the only source for purchasing the book. Many of these sources (bookstores, publishers, and authors) have become good friends and so I am biased in that respect.
| Libraries Quick Links |
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| Mid-Continent Public Library —These folks are some of the best. I have either found everything I need here or been given the opportunity to request it through them. More and more libraries are offering web pages where you can search their catalog and place holds on books reducing greatly the amount of time you have to spend searching the shelves yourself. |
| General Information Quick Links |
The Devil Knows How to Ride by Edward E. Leslie —This is a fairly recent contribution to this subject. Mr. Leslie is a talented writer and story-teller so this is an easy read with a thorough overview of the subject. |
Inside War, The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War by Michael Fellman —This is no armchair entertainment reading, this is solid history. Mr. Fellman's book takes you deep into some of the terrible sufferings of the people in Missouri during the time and sheds a lot of light on the fury in battle that the men and women of that time expressed. |
Bloody Bill Anderson : the short, savage life of a Civil War guerrilla by Albert Castel and Thomas Goodrich —Mr. Castel is one of the premier historians of the border wars and has compiled this thorough and entertaining biography of Captain Anderson. |
Embattled Arkansas, The Prairie Grove Campaign of 1862 by Michael E. Banasik —This book is technically not a book on the border wars but it is one that fills in a lot of the big picture of the state of the war in late 1862. |
| Autobiographical Authored by the Subjects Themselves Quick Links |
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Three Years with Quantrell by O. S. Barton with John McCorkle —Mr. McCorkle was a Confederate soldier in the west when the war began and became a scout with Quantrill's raiders as the war progressed. He, like many others, suffered great personal tragedies at the hands of the occupation forces. Despite the fact that much was clearly forgiven by him at the time of this book's publication, it is still clear that those wrongs were not forgotten. |
The Story of Cole Younger by Himself by Cole Younger —Mr. Younger, like Mr. McCorkle, suffered great personal tragedies from the war. But, where Mr. McCorkle held back some of the fire that filled him in those years, Mr. Younger holds back little. This is a wonderful book for understanding the early reconstruction years in Missouri. Mr. Younger became involved deeply in politics and so he sheds a great deal of light on the political forces of the day as well. |
| Source Documents and Reference Quick Links |
Branded as Rebels Compiled by Joanne Chiles Eakin and Donald Hale —Not only are these folks some of the finest historians on this subject, they are also some of the finest people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting. I cannot say enough good about them. Between the two of them, they have generated piles and piles of books on the Border Wars and those books are generally packed with the source documents from which they worked. It would be impossible to list all their works but I list this as representative of the kind of work they do. I have read everything I can that these two have put out and would highly recommend anything by these two authors. Be sure to read the entry for John McKeene, its one of my favorite stories. |
The Encyclopedia of Quantrill's Guerrillas Compiled by Rose Mary Lankford. —Mrs. Lankford is another good friend and has been of great help to me in the study of this subject. Her book is an invaluable resource. See Mrs. Lankford's website for details about this title. |
Civil War Stories of Missouri and The Civil War in Missouri, Day by Day by Carolyn M. Bartels —Mrs. Bartels is another one of the nicest people on earth who happens to be a knowledgable historian and talented author. She has written many books about the war in Missouri and I would highly recommend anything she has written. These two are books that are very similar in scope and representative of the fine books Mrs. Bartels produces. Her books are often packed with copies of source documentation from which she works. |
| The More Biased Quick Links |
Noted Guerrillas by John N. Edwards —Although this is one of my favorites, Mr. Edwards made no bones about providing the guerrilla's side of the events. Then again, the yankees (or, more specifically, the Jacobin regime rather than the people of the north in general) have controlled our schools and brainwashed kids for over 100 years so it is good to get the other side. |
Quantrill and the Border Wars William E. Connelly —Given the option of believing a favorable story about the guerrillas or believing one in the opposite extreme, Mr. Connelly could not seem to accept the former. Even when there were times that evidence clearly supported the more positive portrayal, Mr. Connelly wanted to perpetuate the demonisation of the Confederate Guerrillas. This is, in my opinion, one of the greatest works of political propaganda of all time. |
| Entertainment Quick Links |
Ride With the Devil —This is a fairly recent film based on a historical fiction novel, Woe to Live On by Daniel Woodrell. This is my favorite movie of all time. It has real depth for a movie (a rarity from the entertainment industry these days). Through the meaningful dialog you get a good introduction to forces that were at work in the country at the time of the war. If you have a short attention span, you may not like this movie as much as I do but the payoff of trying to understand the period rather than just wanting to be entertained is well worth the effort. |
The Outlaw Josey Wales —This is a Clint Eastwood classic. I think this movie and the family stories about my great great grandfather were the biggest factors in my interest about this subject. It is pure fiction but I like the references to the Indian (aka, Native American) involvement in the war. It is particularly heart-wrenching to be aware of the tactics of Grant, Sherman, and other union generals after the war to subjugate the Indian nations as they had subjugated the Confederate States. |
| Cathy Barton-Para David Para These are friends from the William Clarke Quantrill Society and wonderful historical music enthusiasts. They combine their great talent for some of the best period music you can find. |
| Bobby Horton —I cannot stress enough how much of a gift this man's work has been in my life. Every cause has its artistic voice and Bobby Horton has captured the spirit of the southron cause like few others. I find myself whistling and singing these tunes all the time. Be sure to try the period hymns as well. Folks in those days seemed to have a passion for God that is not often expressed the same way today. |
Of particular interest to the study of the Border War, see these other sites: |