Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865

by Monaghan, Jay

• ISBN13: 9780803281264
• ISBN10: 0803281269
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1984-12-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

The first phase of the Civil War was fought west of the Mississippi River at least six years before the attack on Fort Sumter. Starting with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, Jay Monaghan traces the development of the conflict between the pro-slavery elements from Missouri and the New England abolitionists who migrated to Kansas. "Bleeding Kansas" provided a preview of the greater national struggle to come.The author allows a new look at Quantrill's sacking of Lawrence, organized bushwhackery, and border battles that cost thousands of lives. Not the least valuable are chapters on the American Indians' part in the conflict. The record becomes devastatingly clear: the fighting in the West was the cruelest and most useless of the whole affair, and if men of vision had been in Washington in the 1850s it might have been avoided.

Table of Contents

a Challenge Accepted	p. 3
It Looks Very Much like War: 1855	p. 16
The Wakarusa War	p. 34
the Crime Against Kansas	p. 45
I Went to Take Old Brown and Old Brown Took Me	p. 60
Lane's Army of the North	p. 69
Geary Takes Command	p. 85
Buchanan Tries His Hand	p. 96
He'Ll Trouble Them More When His Coffin's Nailed Down	p. 107
the Election of Abraham Lincoln	p. 117
Lyon Shows Missouri	p. 129
Jefferson City, Boonville, and the Happy Land of Canaan	p. 139
Battle of Carthage	p. 149
Born Among the Rocks	p. 159
the Battle of Wilson's Creek	p. 170
the Fall of Lexington	p. 182
Osceola, Zagoni, and Frémont's Recall	p. 195
the Five Nations Secede	p. 209
Slaveholding Indians Declare War	p. 219
Must Have St. Louis--Then Huzza!	p. 228
the Battle of Pea Ridge	p. 239
the Bloodstained Kansas Banner	p. 252
the Battle of Prairie Grove	p. 261
Quantrill Redresses Gettysburg	p. 274
Baxter Springs	p. 290
Lincoln's Re-Election Campaign on the Border	p. 298
Cabin Creek and Pilot Knob	p. 307
Centralia	p. 316
the Eve of Austerlitz	p. 320
the Battle of Westport	p. 329
Retreat from Moscow	p. 337
Epilogue	p. 346
Notes	p. 353
Sources: Books And Articles	p. 399
Index	p. 437
Index	p. 449
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.