Civil War In Missouri/Kansas Reads
November 08, 2011
As an avid reader of American Civil War period non-fiction books, I strongly recommend any written by author Thomas Goodrich for those interested in the Missouri/Kansas Border Wars. Mr. Goodrich lives in Topeka, KS and has written four outstanding books to date making extensive use of first hand reports covering this area and time.
Bloody Bill Anderson: The Short, Savage Life of a Civil War Guerrilla, which he wrote with author Albert Castel, describes one of William Clarke Quantrill's famed Lieutenants known for his "take no prisoners" ways. Black Flag: Guerrilla Warfare on the Western Border, 1861-1865 covers this period in whole, describing the battles, skirmishes and key figures. Bloody Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre focuses on a specific event in which Quantrill's raiders sacked the town of Lawrence Kansas in 1863. War to the Knife: Bleeding Kansas, 1854-1861 covers the pre-war period, including John Brown and the conflict over slavery. All of these books are available for check out through MCPL. Mr. Goodrich and his wife, Debra, also host periodic bus tours to the important sites from this period through Black Flag Tours out of Topeka.
Jeff W.
Buckner Branch
Comments
Most of the time when we're
Most of the time when we're talking about history, we're focused on far away places. The Civil War is fascinating to me because it happened HERE. Order Number 11...Bleeding Kansas...all in our backyard. I think I heard somewhere that Missouri saw the third most battles in the entire war. I know there was also a battle in each of the areas now served by MCPL. Interesting.
Civil War in Missouri
Actually there were several small battles that occured here in the Kansas City area during the Civil War (examples being Big Blue and Lone Jack). Even more importantly, one of the largest battles fought west of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Westport was fought here in Kansas City on Oct 23, 1864. That involved over 30,000 men and resulted in a Union Victory. It is often described as the "Gettysburg of the West". We have several books specifically about these battles available in the MCPL system.
Jeff W
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