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During The Civil War, The State Of Missouri Witnessed The Most Widespread, Prolonged, And Destructive Guerrilla Fighting In American History. With Its Horrific Combination Of Robbery, Arson, Torture, Murder, And Swift And Bloody Raids On Farms And Settlements, The Conflict Approached Total War, Engulfing The Whole Populace And Challenging Any Notion Of Civility. Michael Fellman's Inside War Captures The Conflict From Inside, Drawing On A Wealth Of First-hand Evidence, Including Letters, Diaries, Military Reports, Court-martial Transcripts, Depositions, And Newspaper Accounts. He Gives Us A Clear Picture Of The Ideological, Social, And Economic Forces That Divided The People And Launched The Conflict. Along With Depicting How Both Confederate And Union Officials Used The Guerrilla Fighters And Their Tactics To Their Own Advantage, Fellman Describes How Ordinary Civilian Men And Women Struggled To Survive Amidst The Random Terror Perpetuated By Both Sides; What Drove The Combatants Themselves To Commit Atrocities And Vicious Acts Of Vengeance; And How The Legend Of Jesse James Arose From This Brutal Episode In The American Civil War.
This work investigates the mechanisms of total war and social collapse within Missouri during the American Civil War, focusing on how guerrilla violence eroded the boundary between combatants and civilians. Michael Fellman, a historian specializing in the American South, utilizes a vast array of primary source documentation to analyze the ideological and economic fractures that fueled localized conflict. By examining military records, personal correspondence, and legal transcripts, the author constructs a framework that explains how state-sanctioned violence and irregular warfare transformed the region into a landscape of perpetual terror.
What You Will Find
Historians recognize this text as a definitive study of the brutal, localized nature of the Civil War in the border states. Readers frequently note the meticulous use of primary source material to illustrate the breakdown of civil order during the period.
Page Count:
352
Publication Date:
1990-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-10:
0198021933
ISBN-13:
9780198021933
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