This book is a thorough study of all known guerrilla operations in Civil War Missouri between September 1864 and June 1865. It explores different tactics each side attempted to gain advantage over each other, with regional differences as influenced by the personalities of local commanders. The author utilizes both well-known and obscure sources (including military and government records, private accounts, county and other local histories, period and later newspapers, and secondary sources published after the war) to identify which Southern partisan leaders and groups operated in which areas of Missouri, and how their kinds of warfare evolved.
This work presents the actions of Southern guerrilla forces and Confederate behind-Union-lines recruiters chronologically by region so that readers may see the relationship of seemingly isolated events to other events. The book also studies the counteractions of an array of different types of Union troops fighting guerrillas in Missouri to show how differences in training, leadership and experience affected actions in the field.

Bruce Nichols is an analyst for the United States Government in the Department of Defense. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Bruce Nichols
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 464
Bibliographic Info: 99 photos, 12 maps, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7584-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0384-1
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Preface  1
Introduction  7
One: Fall 1864 in Southwest Missouri  11
Two: Fall 1864 in Southeast Missouri  41
Three: Fall 1864 in the St. Louis Area  68
Four: Fall 1864 in Northeast Missouri Including Centralia  81
Five: Fall 1864 in Northeast Missouri After Centralia  115
Six: Fall 1864 in Northwest Missouri South of the Missouri River  149
Seven: Fall 1864 in Northwest Missouri North of the Missouri River  186
Eight: First Six Weeks of Winter 1864–1865 Across Missouri  212
Nine: Last Seven Weeks of Winter 1864–1865 Across Missouri  233
Ten: Spring 1865 in Southwest Missouri  260
Eleven: Spring 1865 in Southeast Missouri  272
Twelve: Spring 1865 in Northeast Missouri  299
Thirteen: Spring 1865 in Northwest Missouri  324
Afterword  353
Notes  364
Bibliography  421
Index  431

“Nichols’ impressive four volumes will undoubtedly be the standard encyclopedia of guerilla activities in Missouri for years to come. No historian interested in Civil War guerrilla warfare should be without the entire set. Nichols is to be congratulated for his excellent work in documenting this dark but pivotal time in Missouri’s history…highly recommended”—Civil War News; “monumental…nothing remotely approaching the scale of this undertaking has been attempted before on this topic, and these meticulously researched tomes will almost certainly stand the test of time as essential reference tools”—The Civil War Monitor; recommended”—ARBA; “a detailed chronological account…meticulous assessment of a wide variety of sources…Nichols also shines a light on lesser-known figures and events”—Missouri Historical Review.