Bushwhacker Belles: The Sisters, Wives, and Girlfriends of the Missouri Guerrillas by Larry Wood (review)

Examinations of the role of civilians during the American Civil War have flourished over the last few decades, as have studies of border states. Larry Wood's Bushwhacker Belles: The Sisters, Wives, and Girlfriends of the Missouri Guerrillas is another contribution to this expanding scholarship. Utilizing recently digitized provost marshal papers, supplemented by census records, personal accounts, and family histories, Wood profiles more than thirty women affiliated in some way with Confederate guerrillas or guerrilla action in Missouri during the American Civil War. In most entries, Wood initially outlines an incident that brought the woman in question into contact with Federal authorities in Civil War Missouri. These events ranged from "'dancing with the Rebel flag,'" to providing material aid to guerrillas, to even murder (p. 198). The women illustrate the myriad reasons anyone participates in a war—family, ideology, survival. Of particular interest to some scholars is Wood's examination of a number of women associated with notorious Missouri guerrilla William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Wood's work with these women in particular attempts to separate truth from myth and adds documentary evidence to long-remembered stories.

Wood places significant value on the familial or romantic connection to guerrillas that each woman had as he explores her behavior and participation in the war effort on the side of the Confederacy. There is a fine line between defining women solely based on their relationship to men and recognizing the societal expectations of women that might have limited their role. Despite the fact that the phrase "bushwhacker belle" appears throughout the text as a patronizing and often repetitive way to describe these women and to remind the reader of their femininity or womanhood, Wood convincingly chronicles the many ways women ignored traditional gender roles of the era and acted independently of men. These women were not retiring belles, and Wood proves it time and again as he discusses their actions in challenging Federal authority. He shows that it was the loyalty expected of family in the kinship-based society of nineteenth-century Missouri that motivated, excused, and often redeemed the unfeminine actions of these women during the war, in the eyes of their communities, at least, if not Federal authorities.

Scholars will find the digital sources utilized by Wood indicative of an emerging era in modern scholarship. Wood readily admits he conducted most of his research on the internet, and the result shows the value of digitizing and opening access to records long held in the bowels of the National Archives and other repositories. However, though Wood's thorough use of online reproductions of government documents adds heft to his work, his utilization of message boards and genealogy websites weakens key sections, as these sources often provide information that is difficult to verify. Though such sources are often a fruitful starting point for scholars, Wood's citation of potentially fluid and weakly supported message board commentary and user-produced family trees may concern some readers, as will his use of Wikipedia.

Bushwhacker Belles is a useful addition to Civil War scholarship in both its focus on women and its exploration of resistance to Federal authority and occupation. The men of the guerrilla movement in Missouri have long captured the attention of historians and the imagination of the public. Wood's work shows the contribution and the power of women in those unsettled times as well.