To Die Game. The Story of the Lowry Band, Indian Guerrillas of Reconstruction (review)

book reviews363 Seeking further explanations of American imperialist impulses during the last half of the nineteenth century in the common interests of southern and western farmers, merchants, and railroad men in the opening of global markets by capitalizing on the potential of America's domestic communications revolution, chiefly waterways and railroads, this convincing revisionist study helps confirm the mounting evidence that the roots of our overseas imperialism were deeply spread before the dramatic events of 1898. In clear and interesting prose, Professor Schonberger makes his points with becoming restraint and balance; the controversies of farmers and railroad leaders over international outlets, for example, are properly subordinated, though solidly linked, with their more pressing concerns over government regulation. This reviewer found the chapters on Garrett, the B&O, and Europe, Fish, the Illinois Central, and Latin America, and Hill, the Great Northern, and the Orient particularly illuminating aspects of the thesis. The sources, if not exhaustive, are well chosen and carefully exploited; minor errors of spelling and dates do not impair the usefulness of this able book. Indeed, it should find an appreciative audience among both diplomatic and economic historians of the late nineteenth century. C. K. Yearley State University of New York at Buffalo To Die Game. The Story of the Lowry Band, Indian Guerrillas of Reconstruction . By W. McKee Evans. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971. Pp. xiv, 282. $8.95. ) Although the Lumber River Indians of North Carolina thoroughly adopted the ways of whites, they could not, nor did they indicate any wish to, don white skins. Consequently they suffered that exploitation and oppression commonly accorded by our civilization to people of darker hue. As narrated by Mr. Evans, the Reconstruction tale of violent struggle by a portion of those Indians against this white racism is a most informative and engrossing one. Following decades of racial antagonism, it was the conscription of Indians as "free persons of color" to work upon Confederate fortifications during the Civil War that provoked a guerrilla resistance led by a respected Indian family of decent circumstance, the Lowry family. Obviously this course aligned the guerrillas with the North and against the ruling powers of North Carolina, and it also left a bitter legacy of mutual killings and desires for revenge. Despite the guerrillas' Unionist stance, the northern victory provided them with neither protection nor gain. Instead, under the Reconstruction program of President Johnson, governing and police authority was rapidly returned to the same wealthy racists who had hounded the Indians during the war and soon were doing so again. During 1865 two Lowrys were murdered by local authorities and another was ar- 364CIVIL WAR HISTORY rested and indicted for murder because of a killing that had occurred during the war. Such incidents culminated in the reconstitution of a guerrilla band composed of black and white as well as Indian and led by the redoubtable Henry Berry Lowry. The author confirms the legend that these guerrillas represented the oppressed poor, fought racism and injustice, usually robbed the rich and frequently gave to the poor, and enjoyed appreciation and support among the populace. They also committed a number of vendetta murders and other killings. Henry Berry and his men simply believed that under existing circumstances justice for them and punishment for the crimes of their enemies would come only out of the barrels of their own guns. Enhancing the band's reputation were gallantry and a series of remarkable escapes and exploits that consistently confounded the so-called legitimate forces of law and order. Apparently the guerrillas saw some hope of an equitable adjustment in the advent of Radical Reconstruction, but that promise was soon destroyed . Intimidated by Conservative propaganda and by the terrorism of the Ku KIux Klan, Republicans were eager to discredit all violence and gain respectability by denouncing the Lowrys. In response to a Conservative request from a predominantly Republican county, the state's Republican governor outlawed the guerrillas. He thus succeeded not only in splitting his own party in that locality but ( a fact overlooked by the author) in establishing the base for a crucial Republican state defeat in 1875. When Conservatives, who had no difficulty in tolerating and forgiving the terrorism...