Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy [Paperback]

Richard S. Brownlee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1984

Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy: Guerrilla Warfare in the West by Brownlee, Richard S.

Product Details

• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (February 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807111627
• ISBN-13: 978-0807111628
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guerrilla warfare in the US?, December 10, 2000

By 

alice (Bronx, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy (Paperback)

_Gray Ghosts_ is an excellent foray into a chapter of the Civil War that does not always garner attention -- the establishment of a police state in Missouri and the subsequent backlash and ensuing war of sabotage by local guerrillas. Complexifying the historical landscape, Missouri and Kansas had shared much animosity in the years leading up to the Civil War, and Kanasas, who was a steadfast Union state, used the War as an opportunity to raid Missouri towns as Union Army representatives. Missouri to this point had been a borderline state. Many of the bands of Guerrillas, while they received aid from the Confederacy, never considered themselves a part of any Civil War cause. As Bill Anderson wrote, "I am a guerrilla. I have never belonged to the Confederate Army, nor do my men . . . I have chosen guerrilla warfare to revenge myself for wrongs that I could not honorably avenge otherwise" (201). These "wrongs" included the murder of his father and mother and the imprisonment of Anderson's sisters. The book is excellently written with thorough footnotes and documentation. Most of Brownlee's sources are either primary from newspapers and accounts of the time or secondary dating from the early 1900's. Brownlee also shows himself to be an excellent writer, stringing together the accounts into a vivid portrait of the time. His conversations with such characters as Jessie and Frank James, Bloody Bill Anderson, and William Quantrill represent Lazaras-esque scholastic resurrections. I found the author to be very opinionated, although his judgements are generally limited to the realm of speculative ethics and do not seem to fall along Blue/Gray or political demarcations. As he remarks in the preface, "In dealing with the characters involved, the author has not hesitated to credit each with personal responsibility" and seeks to give them the "praise or condemnation they deserve." From such a perspective, Brownlee comments on both the contextual factors shaping the guerrillas and the decisions they made that in turn shaped history.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read. Excellent Account of Missouri and Kansas, December 6, 2010

By 

Missouri Eagle "Van" (Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy (Paperback)

Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy by Brownlee, is an excellent book. It not only covers the Civil war years (1861-1865), but also the Kansas/Missouri border 'wars' prior to the Civil War. Most Civil war books focus on the big battles, the east and south. This takes a much needed honest unbiased look at one of the bloodiest, longest, and important parts of the Civil War. It's not totally about Slavery vs. Free, North against south, Union vs. confederacy, or about only the 'big' guerrilla (bushwhackers) like Anderson, Quantrill, and Porter. Brownlee takes a very objective view to write not only what happened, but the politics, people, power struggles and atmosphere of the time. Most of the sources are newspapers, and documents from the time (into the 1900's) as well as other recognized authorities and writers. As historians have long recognized, the Civil War in and of itself was not really just about freeing slaves. Missourians and Kansans and many other states simply wanted the right and freedom to govern themselves. Most Missourians while sympathetic to the south didn't own slaves. The few who did often worked beside their slaves, and treated them so well, they were more like employees than slaves. Within the rural areas, Missouri and Kansas farmers and landowners fought to protect their property, homes, land, and families. Both 'Blue' and 'Grey' had guerrilla raiders, bushwhackers, and rogues in Missouri and Kansas throught the mid 1850's to late 1860's. Some fought for what they beleived to be the 'right' cause (north or south). Some fought as a matter of necessity (defending and protecting their way of life). Some fought for personal gain by taking advantage of the politics and times. "Gray Ghosts" gives an excellent view of all aspects of these Guerillas and Bushwhackers. I noticed in the book the 1958 copyright date, (as well as 1968 and later dates), so I'm not exactly sure when Brownlee wrote the book, but whenever it was, he definitely did a fair and just accounting of what Missouri and Kansas were like during these times.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Factual first hand information, August 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy (Paperback)

Brownlee does a good job of not letting his personal feelings get in the way. Unlike many authors who don't let truth enter into the fold. Brownlee uses numerous firsthand accounts of people who lived at the time and not his own opinions or that of a college professor from Kansas. Good historical book. Not to biased.