Suffering to Silence: 29th Texas Cavalry, CSA, Regimental History, and: Fighting With Ross' Texas Cavalry Brigade, C.S.A.: The Diary of George L. Griscom, Adjutant, 9th Texas Cavalry Regiment (review)

372civil war history labor brokers, and tradesmen—and, more commonly, launderers, bookkeepers , shoemakers, woodcarvers, and cooks. Within Louisiana, when convict labor proved insufficient, Coolies were hired within the textile mills of the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The majority of these "objects of experimentation" did not remain dispersed across the South. Most eventually migrated to New Orleans or to the Pacific Coast, or else returned to their native land. Surviving rural clusters are rare, and quite a few who remained merged into the black substrata. In Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, for example, the family names of some of the more prosperous antebellum free people of color now appear among mixed-blood descendants of the original Chinese. A relatively short monograph, Chinese in the Post Civil War South leaves many questions unanswered. This reader's appetite to know more about the subject was whetted but left unsatiated. Cohen's Southern Chinese appear as shadowy figures who emerge, exist, then fade ultimately into miscegenous oblivion. However, the author's analyses are often astute, and deficiencies within the study appear to result more from a lack of sources than from a lack of brilliant interpretation. Gary B. Mills The University of Alabama Suffering to Silence: 29th Texas Cavalry, CSA, Regimental History. By Bradford K. Felmly and John C. Grady. (Quanah, Tex.: Nortex Press, 1975. Pp. xii, 259. $8.50.) Fighting With Ross' Texas Cavalry Brigade, C.S.A.: The Diary of George L. Griscom, Adjutant, 9th Texas Cavalry Regiment. Edited by Homer L. Kerr. (Hillsboro, Tex.: Hill Junior College Press, 1976. Pp. xx, 255. $9.50.) Suffering to Silence is the first published history of the Confederate States Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry Regiment. The unit was organized by Colonel Charles DeMorse in early July 1862 from recruits living in the counties of northern Texas immediately south of the Red River. DeMorse, the well-known prosecessionist editor ofthe Cforksville Standard, enrolled his men at Clarksville and immediately furloughed them while he traveled through the Confederate States from the East coast to the Mississippi River area purchasing military equipment. All troops were ordered to return for training near Clarksville no later than November 1, 1862. Before the year elapsed, DeMorse and his men received orders to patrol the northern Texas border, an assignment that led to extensive service in Indian territory and Arkansas during the Civil War. Combat service included both Cabin Creek engagements, Honey Springs (Elk Creek), Fort Gibson, Perryville, Jenkins Ferry, Poison Springs, and Fort Smith. In addition, the unit experienced much frustration and suffering due to inadequate supplies and unsatisfactory winter housing. Even desertions were heavier than in most Texas regiments. DeMorse himself found the BOOK REVIEWS373 situation intolerable. When he protested an order in December 1864 from Kirby-Smith, the commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, he was court-martialed and removed from command. Yet the Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry Regiment served ably throughout the war in fulfilling its duty of protecting Texas from invasion by Union forces. As one of its last exploits, the regiment shared in the September 1864 capture in Indian territory of a Union Army wagon train valued at $1,500,000 en route to Fort Gibson. Suffering to Silence makes a modest contribution to knowledge, but leaves much to be desired. Although outlining the history of the Twentyninth Texas Cavalry Regiment, it does not provide a detailed research treatment. The primary sources available in the archives and the libraries needed utilization to the fullest, and on this count the book is woefully inadequate. Imagination supplied inadequately what satisfactory research would have provided. Some ofthe account ofthe Battle ofHoney Springs is purely fictional, and this is confirmed in insufficient documentation, a chronic ailment throughout the book. Substance is generally lacking in this volume, with the most satisfying section being the regimental roster list. Editorial problems abound. Misspellings characterize the book as does the misuse of the semicolon. Words are sometimes missingor duplicated, and on page 160 one or more lines of the text are not to be found. Thus the editorial work and proofreading are inadequate throughout. Unfortunately , available photographs were often replaced by rough drawings. The format of the book is unattractive and the printing leaves much to be...