Welcome to my blog about the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi! By “Trans-Mississippi,” I mean the war west of the Mississippi River. Not only am I a native Trans-Mississippian, but I also reside here as well. My name is Jane Johansson, and I work as an associate professor of history at Rogers State University. The main campus is located in Claremore, Oklahoma, but I work seventeen miles east of there at a branch campus in Pryor. This part of northeastern Oklahoma saw quite a bit of campaigning during the war—most of the fighting in the Indian Territory occurred along or near the Military Road (also known as the Texas Road). This roughly parallels U. S. highway 69 today.
My graduate degrees were earned south of the Red River at the University of North Texas. I had the good fortune to have Dr. Richard Lowe as my advisor. He encouraged me to study a Texas unit for my dissertation, and this resulted in a study of the 28th Texas Cavalry. After graduating, I revised my dissertation into Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28th Texas Cavalry, 1862-1865 that was published by the University of Arkansas Press in 1998. I followed this up by editing the letters of Captain Theophilus Perry of the 28th Texas Cavalry and his wife, Harriet. In 2000, this was published as Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Correspondence of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864. More about those books at another time!
This is my first experience at blogging so with some trepidation I am throwing my words out in cyberspace.
