Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, 1862 [Paperback]

Richard B. McCaslin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1997

Winner of the Coral Horton Tullis Memorial Prize In the early morning hours of October 1, 1862, state militia arrested more than two hundred alleged Unionists from five northern Texas counties and brought them to Gainesville. In the ensuing days, at least forty-four prisoners were hanged and several others were lynched in neighboring communities. In the first systematic treatment of this grisly climax to a heritage of violence and vigilantism in North Texas, Richard B. McCaslin provides a unique opportunity to study the tensions produced in southern society by the Civil War, the nature of disaffection in the Confederacy, and the American vigilante tradition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080712219X
• ISBN-13: 978-0807122198
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #636,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of History's Mysteries, April 16, 2002

By 

Lemuel A. Waggoner "riverbuyer" (Wakefield, RI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862 (Hardcover)

When I was a young boy growing up in Oklahoma, I was told of my great-great grandfather being hung in Texas during the Civil War. I never knew much about the circumstances surrounding the event other than that, except that his name was Nathaniel Miles Clark, and that I was named for one of his sons, James Lemuel.

While looking up ancestors, I came across Mr. McCaslin's historical account about a mass hanging in Gainesville Texas in 1862. Believing that this could be an account of the event about which I had been told, I ordered the book, and read it through in one day. It was a most enlightening account.

Since then I have read accounts from other sources of the same events, but Mr. McCaslin's well documented study is the most complete and impartial account that I have read of the entire episode. Mr. McCaslin does much to reduce the historical obscurity of the circumstances surrounding the Great Gainesville Hangings, especially to the descendants of the victims of that episode, which by now must be a great number of people.

I would like to see a movie made based on this event.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glimpse of the Past, April 9, 2006

By 

Dan C. Boutwell (Burleson, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862 (Hardcover)

Mr. McCaslin has opened the murky pages of the past with this outstanding accounting of the Hanging at Gainesville. Even today there are strong feelings on both sides regarding the right or wrong of the situation, although, there can never be any doubt that the system broke down badly. It is a image of controlled and ordered hysteria. I have no doubt that the Southern sympathizers felt justified in their actions. I also have no doubt that their actions was an abuse of power, regardless of how justified they felt.

His book has helped me reconstruct the events in the life of my ancestor, Alexander Boutwell, who was the executioner at the majority of the hangings.

Mr. McCaslin does an outstanding job portraying both sides without condoning the actions of either. His book, which is dog-eared and full of notes, holds a welcome spot in my library.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tainted Breeze, June 5, 2010

By 

L. Moore - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, 1862 (Paperback)

I found this book when I did a search for Gainesville, Texas. I have not completed reading the whole book yet but there is a lot of information here that I had hoped for. I was especially interested in this book as I was looking for more information on the "great hangings". My great-grandmother was interviewed by a newspaper in 1925 and spoke about the hangings and how my great-grandfather was asked to guard the prisoners. This gave me a more personal interest in the book. I would recommend this book to those interested in learning more about Gainesville and the Civil War.