Biographies of Civil War Guerrilla Figures

This Summer I have been able to read numerous books. All of them have related to U.S. History in some way or another. However, there have been four that have stood out the most to me. As many of you know, I am a self proclaimed expert on Guerrilla Warfare in the Civil War. These four books that I am going to spotlight have proved vital to me, both in gaining more knowledge, and helping me dig deeper into the lives of these men. I hope that those reading this post will find them as enjoyable as I did.

The first book is entitled Jack Hinson's One-Man War. This book tells of the life of Jack Hinson. Tom McKenney does an excellent job of bringing Hinson to life. McKenney is a former military man, and he is able to effectively explain Hinson's tactics to the reader. If you haven't checked out my post on Hinson, I encourage you to do so, then go pick up this book.

The next book that I read was entitled Quantrill of Missouri. This book primarily focuses on Quantrill's life in the Missouri-Kansas area. Paul Peterson goes into detail about Quantrill's early life, and what drove him to become a guerrilla fighter. This is the first of three books in the series. Just like the Hinson book above, when one reads this book, Quantrill's life will come alive.

The book Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan, is widely regarded as a classic among historians. James Ramage brings Morgan's story to life. As a native of Middle Tennessee, most of the places mentioned in this work, are familiar to me. Ramage tells of Morgan and his men's thrilling escape from Union prison. He also makes reference to the notorious White County figure, Champ Ferguson. Just a really good book, that should be in the library of all history enthusiasts.

The final book that I want to recommend, is Bloody Bill Anderson: The Short Savage Life of a Civil War Guerrilla. This book, much like the life of Anderson, is very short. Both Castel and Goodrich give a very detailed overview of Anderson's life. In my opinion, the most exciting, and informative part of this book, is the account given of the Centrailia, Missouri massacre (stay tuned for a future post). This work is yet another overall great book.



Stay tuned for more blog posts about tales from Tennessee and beyond. I also have a huge announcement that will be revealed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that as well.