Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865 (review)

Book Reviews95 likewise plagued the Confederates, and they had the added bitterness of losing. Certainly it is high time a book such as this appeared. When one studies the really extraordinary success of these combined operations, when one understands that the war in the West probably could not have been won without the navy, one is mystified at the neglect shown this phase of the war by most historians. Not only did the South lose New Orleans, Memphis, Vicksburg, and many other lesser strongholds, but all commerce by water and much by rail was interdicted by the Union navy. Furthermore, this war taught the navy its kindergarten course in amphibious warfare and led to developments which culminated in the second World War. Naval construction «id armament were vitally affected by the lessons of the Civil War; it was not until just before the first World War that our navy abandoned the shallow draft type of vessels made necessary in the war on the rivers. Finally, many naval heroes emerged, as evidenced in the names of prominent destroyers in the second World War: Farragut, Porter, Hoskins, Brown, Eilet, and many others were names to conjure with in the recent global conflict. Students of the Civil War and of history generally owe the late Mr. Pratt a heavy debt for calling attention to the importance of this side of the war and for presenting his materials in a book so concise, vivid, and stimulating. Samuel M. Fahr Iowa City, Iowa Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865. By Jay Monaghan. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1955. Pp. 454. $6.00.) t? many readers of books on the civil war the role of Kansas and Missouri has been somewhat confusing. Several border tales have only beclouded what was already a tangled skein of motives, drives, and purposes, but in Civil War on the Western Border Jay Monaghan comes to the rescue with a clearly developed account of the border struggle. Prior to 1861, while what was eventually to erupt into civil war simmered in the eastern states, mostly in the form of heated words, the western border experienced an entirely different development. In both Kansas and Missouri the division of feeling was sharp, and the former state became the setting for a violence vendetta-like in nature. Emigrant Aid Societies worked diligendy and fervently to sell the idea of homesteading in Kansas, and in response antislavery settlers travelled from Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New England aboard crowded Ohio River steamboats. At the same time, the pro-slavery elements in Kansas were far from inactive, and the mad scramble was on for control of this western territory. Events see-sawed through the 1850's, with now the free-state officials in power and then the pro-slavery forces in the saddle. In crucial instances the latter element did not hesitate to call upon Missouri for reinforcements. Territorial governors led precarious lives; their tenures were brief as some resigned in haste and others were arrested for "treason." With feelings running high, the town of Lawrence was sacked by an "army" consisting of the Platte County 96ClVILWAR HISTORY (Missouri) Rifles, the Kickapoo Rangers, the recenüy arrived Southern emigrants , and other units — all under the notorious Border Ruffians. It was now John Brown's turn. Although too late to ride to the rescue of Lawrence, he struck back at Osawatomie Creek, and this pattern of violence was repeated in the months ahead with Kansas nights red with barn burning, dry gulching, and ambushing. Brown's raids were preludes to the full-scale warfare which erupted after the fall of Fort Sumter. The Battìe of Carthage, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, the fall of Lexington, the Battìe of Pea Ridge, the Battle of Prairie Grove, and the Battle of Westport were hard-fought, bloody encounters. Locales such as Baxter Springs, Cabin Creek, Pilot Knob, and Centralia flared into the news as settings for brief but violent brushes with bands of bushwhackers like Quantrill's guerrillas. Although teeming with a complexity of names, places, and frontier politics, Mr. Monaghan's book hews to the main line of development and presents a dramatic part of...