Customer Reviews

Cullen Montgomery Baker, Reconstruction Desperado

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Crouch and Brice have done a creditable job in their biography of Cullen Baker, noted opponent of the reconstructing authorities in post Civil War Texas and Arkansas and probably America's first real gunfighter. In a complete revision of Ed Bartholomew's 1954 book, which presented Baker as a hero who opposed Yankee occupation, a "social bandit," as it were, Crouch and Brice present Baker as more of a "public monster," a wartime coward and deserter with a big psychological problem, who went around shooting innocent people after the South lost the war. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between, depending on one's own view as to what Reconstruction means. But the Crouch and Brice book is easy to read, and ably gathers all that has been said about Baker over the years conveniently under one cover. Most surprizing is the volume's measured tone in handling historians with different viewpoints, something Crouch has never been noted for previously. Maybe he has mellowed with time or perhaps that is Brice's contribution to the volume. One wonders, however, if Reconstruction was as successful as Crouch and Brice seem to think, why has America had to go through the whole process again during the past forty years? Maybe Ed Bartholomew was on to something. In any case, it is a well-done piece of research and writing, suitable for all readers interested in the West and South during and after the Civil War.