Theater of a Separate War: The Civil War West of the Mississippi River, 1861– 1865 by Thomas W. Cutrer (review)

When scholars who study the former Confederate states and territories west of the Mississippi River receive any book on the American South, they eagerly look to see if the author included the Trans-Mississippi region. Usually they are disappointed to learn that the answer is no. This is especially true concerning works on the Civil War era, so it is refreshing to have a new study of the Trans-Mississippi conflict, especially by an engaging and well-read scholar.

Geographically, this work stretches beyond the Confederate Department of the Trans-Mississippi to include events in California, Colorado, the Dakotas, Kansas, Minnesota, and Nebraska (most of which are federal operations against Indians). This is primarily military history, but the first chapter does provide an overview of the secession movements west of the Mississippi. Cutrer also discusses the impact of political sentiments and events on military affairs, such as the division within Missouri over the Union and the clashes in Washington that hindered efforts to expel Confederate forces from that state.

Cutrer makes it clear that leadership defined the Trans-Mississippi conflict, and he has strong opinions concerning many principal characters. Among the Confederates, Gideon J. Pillow was "arguably the worst commander in either army" in Missouri in 1861 (42); John S. Roane was "wholly unfit for military command" (134); James S. Rains was "manifestly incompetent" (142); and Theophilus H. Holmes lost most of his army through "strategic ineptitude" (163). Union commanders do not escape unscathed; Cutrer obviously thinks little of John M. Schofield. He can be forgiving: Thomas C. Hindman, who fought with his fellow Confederates and Federals alike in Arkansas, is commended for his efforts. And some Confederates get high praise: Richard Taylor's defense of Louisiana is impressive, even if he had inept opponents, while Tom Green had "one of the most brilliant careers of any cavalry officer of the Civil War" (202).

Some of Cutrer's opinions may spark debate. Texans might be crushed to learn that the best defense of the Lone Star State was "Northern indifference" (275). Cutrer refrains from referring to Milliken's Bend as a massacre, but he is chillingly clear that what William C. Quantrill did at Lawrence and Baxter Springs deserves that label. He is reserved in his comments on Poison Spring and Marks' Mill, and does not cite some recent literature on those engagements, but he does use the word "massacre" in describing them (388). He also notes that black soldiers retaliated for the last two affairs by killing wounded Confederates at Jenkins' Ferry.

Cutrer does stray slightly in declaring the motives for the combatants in the Trans-Mississippi. He writes that Federal soldiers fought primarily to preserve the Union, although there were many for whom abolition became important as well. He does not mention slavery as a motive for Confederate soldiers; instead, they fought for independence and "their rights, however they defined them" (9). But slavery does appear in Cutrer's discussion of Trans-Mississippi secession movements, and he mentions the importance of slavery in the Indian Territory. Too, Cutrer declares that Texas Confederates invaded New Mexico because "for more than any other reason, the Southwest territories presented a potential empire for slavery" (94). Slavery is obviously important in Cutrer's narrative, even if it does not always appear in the right spot.

There are slight errors in facts that some specialists will note, and the struggle to recount so many events does create problems in chronology that sometimes compel careful reading. The lack of illustrations will dismay some readers as well. But these are minor quibbles in such a well-researched volume. Cutrer has a substantial bibliography, with dozens of primary sources. His battle narratives are excellent, and he has a good eye for quotations, such as Chilly McIntosh's stirring but ultimately ineffectual speech before the Battle of...