8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fair, readable, accurate, even witty and amusing, October 11, 2000
This review is from: Jennison's Jayhawkers: A Civil War Cavalry Regiment and Its Commander (Civil War Paperbacks) (Paperback)
Jennison's Jayhawkers, also known as the 7th Kansas Cavalry (not to be confused with the postwar 7th US Cavalry of Little Bighorn fame) were major players in one of the most vicious theatres of the Civil War: the Kansas-Missouri border. This book tells the story of the origins of that conflict, the importance of the issue of slavery in the region, and the detailed history of one of the most infamous formations in US military history.
There is a certain class of professorial writer who avoids being dry and ends up writing a pretty entertaining book while remaining focused in a proper academic manner, and it's a joy to encounter him or her. Starr definitely qualifies; his style is pleasant and holds one's interest. He poses excellent questions and does his best to answer them, always with the honesty to admit where he is surmising or conjecturing. I'd definitely be open to reading more of his work; it feels like a discussion with a learned historian in easy chairs over a libation.
What is really odd about it is I found myself going back and forth between sobered sadness and laughter. As someone with a proud Kansan heritage, to read that Kansans committed atrocities (and there is no doubt at all that they did), retaliatory or not, is always saddening; I suspect other Kansans reading the book might feel similarly. Yet how can one not laugh at, for example, this snippet summing up the battle of Valverde: "On February 21 the two forces clashed at Valverde, a short distance north of the fort, and the balance of inexperience and incompetence being slightly in Sibley's favor, Canby was defeated." The cast of colourful characters in Kansas military politics during the Civil War gives Starr many such opportunities to amuse us, and he makes the most of them with wry wit.
If you're interested in why Kansas and Missouri have a rivalry but that it mostly manifests in good-natured kidding, this book will tell you why: we both know from history what it is like when the rivalry is not good-natured, and we aren't going there again--best to keep it to the sports arena. Strongly recommended for anyone interested in Civil War history, Kansas history or Missouri history.
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