Historians Needed!

Since returning home, I have delved again into background reading about guerrilla warfare in Arkansas and Missouri. I have just finished reading Daniel E. Sutherland’s helpful article “Guerrillas: The Real War in Arkansas”. He concluded his article by suggesting some research topics for scholars. Although written in 1993, I think it is worth quoting the section:

“The complex organization of guerrilla bands must be explored; and a social profile of these partisan fighters, based on census reports, tax and court records, and similar sources of evidence, would make for a fascinating study. A systematic analysis of the impact of guerrilla warfare on the civilian population is in order, a study, incidentally, that could easily branch off into badly needed research on the refugee problem in Arkansas. More work on the river pirates, particularly their impact on the wartime economy of Arkansas, is needed, and on, and on. The history of the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi remains largely untold. If, as suggested here, the guerrilla war is the key to understanding the Trans-Mississippi war, then the beginning of wisdom begins in the mountains and swamps of Arkansas” (p. 153).

Citation: Sutherland, Daniel E. “Guerrillas: The Real War in Arkansas” in Civil War Arkansas: Beyond Battles and Leaders. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000, pages 133-153. The article was first published in the Autumn 1993 issue of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly.

More About Guerrilla Warfare

Lately I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading about guerrilla warfare in Missouri and Arkansas. Since the 1980s there has been quite a bit of scholarly interest in the topic although there are certainly a number of avenues deserving more attention. Daniel E. Sutherland’s book, A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role Of Guerrillas In The American Civil War (2009) is a “big picture” study, helpful for understanding the overall dynamics and the importance of guerrilla warfare.(For more about this important book see my March 25, 2010 posting). Although some of the same material is covered in his book, Sutherland’s essay “Guerrillas: The Real War In Arkansas” in Civil War Arkansas: Beyond Battles and Leaders is a good overview. Sutherland argues in the essay that the guerrilla war in Arkansas was “Not a war within a war, as some historians have suggested, not even a second war, but the war” (p. 133).

Michael Fellman’s, Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict In Missouri During The American Civil War (1988) is an in-depth study of the official policy of both sides, the plight of civilians, Union soldiers and their response to guerrillas, the impact of guerrilla war on women, and the postwar. Fellman tackled many other topics as well in this thoughtful book; I found it helpful to read it twice.

Take the books and the article above and couple them with Bruce Nichols’ books, and you’ll have a greater understanding of guerrilla warfare in the trans-Mississippi.

The Connection Between the Present and the Past

The May 14-15 issue of The Wall Street Journal contained a book review written by Alexander Rose. Mr. Rose reviewed Enduring Battle: American Soldiers in Three Wars, 1776-1945 by Christopher H. Hamner and Barbarians and Brothers: Anglo-American Warfare, 1500-1865 by Wayne E. Lee. In his favorable review of the books Rose wrote “Since military historiography often reflects current events, historians have begun to broaden the traditional master narrative of American military affairs. In light of the bitter experience of Iraq and Afghanistan, Civil War scholars are spending less time on the big battles in the East and more on the extraordinarily violent guerrilla fighting in the West. There is, as well, a deeper interest—the reasons for which are obvious—in the 19^th-century Army’s efforts at Indian pacification and its ‘nation-building’ operations on the frontier.”

I can’t say that I’ve noticed much movement away from the study of the eastern campaigns, but I have noticed an upswing in recent scholarship relating to guerrilla warfare in the western and trans-Mississippi theaters. Current events can have an impact on the topics that historians choose, and perhaps the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to a greater interest in guerrilla warfare. As a test, I pulled from my bookshelf my copy of Daniel E. Sutherland’s A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role Of Guerrillas In The American Civil War to see if his interest in the topic related at all to our recent conflicts. Dr. Sutherland did not explain how he became interested in his topic but he did write in the preface:

“Finally, a word about historical comparisons. Despite the world’s current—and understandable—interest in what has come to be known as asymmetrical or compound warfare, I have resisted using the nineteenth century to probe the twenty-first century. All guerrilla wars bear similarities, but time, geography, and circumstances cannot disguise their frequent differences. Insights and lessons may doubtless be drawn from the 1860s, but any systematic comparison to the present must necessarily diminish the message I want to convey” (p. xii-xiii).

"times are hard here and a fair prospect of being worse[.]"

Vicki Betts, a librarian at the University of Texas at Tyler, has worked extensively with the Confederate Citizens records that are available through Footnote.com. Last week, she sent me her transcription of the letter below written by Henry Bass of Arkansas to his brother and gave me permission to post it on my blog. The letter documents how guerrilla activities destabilized southern society and hurt loyalty for the Confederate cause. Interestingly, Dr. Daniel E. Sutherland makes the same basic point in his important book, A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role Of Guerrillas In The American Civil War (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009).

Lake Enterprise Ark. March the 29^th 1863

Dear Brother

I received your kind letter in February and was very glad to hear from you all again[.] I would have writen to you before now but the mal is stoped crossing the river[.] I have a chance of sending this across by hand my health has improved a great deal since I wrote to you though I am not well yet[.] I have no strength and the least exposure make me sick[.] times are hard here and a fair prospect of being worse[.] the Federals are on the Mason Hills within fiften miles of us and will be here as soon as the water gets out of Beof river bottom which will be about June[.] there has been a great many negroes Brought in here from the river and the fedrel troops say they are coming after them as soon as the waters fall and there is nothing to hinder them from coming[.] we have no troops in the country and I hope will not have for if we had we would [have] two evils instead of one and my experience is that the southron troops injures a country as bad as the federals[.] the only differece is the Southerons take all that people has to live on and then Burns the cotton when they here of yankees coming and is taken with a leaving but they leave the negroes and the yankees comalong and find nothing els and they locate on Mr niger and so it goe[.] I have been a close observer of passing events since this war Broke out and have become disgusted withe the whhole concen under the title of Confederate States from the venerable head down but it will soon be over with and then I am afraid our country will suffer from jahawkers than we have from honerable war for we have plenty of men that have no honer and they only want an opportunity to rob and plunder and will be strend [?] by the absence of law[.] I have heard plenty of men say in the army if the south faild that they would jahawk as long as they lived and men of that class dont care who they rob

I think if I remain at home I will be over to se you in the summer when I can come through the swamp if I do not I will come as soon as the war is over[.] we have had a very wet cold Spring there is nothing planted here yet[.] I have all my corn land ready to plant and will plant this week[.] we had a severe storm last night and is very cold to day

So far we have plenty to live on corn is worth a dollar Bacon 30 cts Sugar 35 cts flour $80 per bbl coffee none Salt is worth $2.50 one hundred miles from here at the Salt works it has sold there as high as ten doller per bushel write to me and it may get here some time

Yor Brother Henry Bass

The Importance of Guerrilla Warfare

John S. Mosby, William C. Quantrill, Champ Ferguson, and John Hunt Morgan are all well known guerrillas or perhaps you choose to label them instead as bushwhackers or raiders or rangers or outlaws. However, George M. Jessee, Jacob Bennett, Tom Henry, Jerome Clark (Sue Mundy), Joe Bailey, John Gatewood, Funderburk Mooney, George W. Rutherford, and Pleasant W. Buchanan were also just a few of the other Confederate guerrillas. Every Confederate guerrilla it seems was opposed by an equally ferocious jayhawker, buffalo, Red Leg or other Union supporter.

For many years, guerrilla warfare has been regarded as little more than an intensely violent and rather localized sideshow of the American Civil War. Recently, I read Daniel E. Sutherland’s A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role Of Guerrillas In The American Civil War (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009) and emerged with a much greater appreciation for the immense importance of guerrilla warfare.

Rather than being confined to a handful of geographic areas during the war—Missouri, Arkansas, and North Carolina spring readily to mind—guerrilla warfare occurred in every southern state as well as some northern ones as well. And this warfare was not minimal in nature but had a significant impact on the civilian population as well as the course of the war. What was so decisive about guerrilla warfare? Dr. Sutherland uses a vast array of primary sources to argue convincingly that “Rebel irregulars also helped their nation lose the war” (277). The inability of the Confederate government to control the activities of their "irregulars" led to situations where guerrillas did not work in tandem with the military; also outlaws and other criminal types preyed on southern civilians who yearned increasingly for the return of order and stability even if it meant victory for the Federals. As Sutherland explains it “The inability of political and military leaders to exploit the benefits of guerrilla warfare splintered a national bid for independence into a hundred local wars for survival and shook public confidence in the ability of the government to protect its citizens” (278). Moreover the guerrilla war and the animosities it generated spilled over into the Reconstruction period.

This is one of the most important books that I have read in recent years about the war, and I hope that it is read widely. Several months ago, Drew Wagenhoffer posted an excellent interview with Dr. Sutherland about his book and its important conclusions. I encourage you to check it out!

More Research Ideas and Some Thoughts on Primary Sources

Drew Wagenhoffer has posted a great interview with Dr. Daniel E. Sutherland on his blog, Civil War Books and Authors. The interview is about Dr. Sutherland’s recent book, A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War. In my last post, I suggested some ideas for future studies relating to the trans-Mississippi; additional comments were posted with great ideas for other research topics. In the interview, Dr. Sutherland suggested that more “micro-studies” of guerrilla groups are needed along with more studies of “local wars.” Those themes open up even more avenues for research and writing on events west of the Mississippi.

Occasionally, I hear scholars or members of the general public bemoan the lack of primary sources relating to the trans-Mississippi. I think that for the most part this is a research myth. It is true that it is difficult to find materials on certain topics. I uncovered few resources relating to the 28^th Texas Cavalry, for example, but this is a problem not confined to the trans-Mississippi. For several years, I did much research on the Adams-Gibson Louisiana brigade that served in the Army of Tennessee and found a dearth of resources on the 13^th Louisiana Infantry and the 30^th Louisiana Infantry. My understanding is that primary sources are very limited for some of the units that served in the Army of Northern Virginia, and I suspect the same is true for a number of Union regiments. I think a rich array of primary sources awaits scholars on a variety of significant trans-Mississippi topics. Dr. Shea spoke to these themes in my interview with him, and he noted the incredible number of primary sources uncovered during his research on the Prairie Grove campaign. Hopefully scholars will take up the trans-Mississippi challenge; in the process I think they will find some fascinating, and virtually untapped, documents to examine.