Why Texans Fought in the Civil War

by Grear, Charles D.

• ISBN13: 9781603441728
• ISBN10: 1603441727
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-01-15
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

The quote above was written by Samuel Bell Maxey in an 1862 letter to his wife at their home in Paris, Texas. Maxey was serving with Confederate general Braxton Bragg, whose campaign to secure Maxey's home state of Kentucky for the Confederacy had just collapsed. InWhy Texans Fought in the Civil War, Charles David Grear provides insights into what motivated Texans to fight for the Confederacy. Mining important primary sourcesincluding thousands of letters and unpublished journalshe affords readers the opportunity to hear, often in the combatants' own words, why it was so important to them to engage in tumultuous struggles occurring so far from home. As Grear notes, in the decade prior to the Civil War the population of Texas had tripled. The state was increasingly populated by immigrants from all parts of the South and foreign countries. When the war began, it was not just Texas that many of these soldiers enlisted to protect, but also their native states, where they had family ties.

Table of Contents

Illustrations and Maps	p. ix
Acknowledgments and a Note on Editorial Method	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Into the Fray: Why Texans Fought in the Civil War	p. 10
Defense of the Lone Star State: Why Texans Fought in the Trans-Mississippi	p. 41
Defense of Their Former Homes: Why Texans Fought East of the Mississippi River	p. 72
Demoralization and Desertion: Why Texans Returned to the Lone Star State during the War	p. 99
Fighting in a New Land: Why Foreign Immigrants and Minorities in Texas Fought	p. 135
Conclusion	p. 163
Notes	p. 171
Bibliography	p. 213
Index	p. 231
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