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Vengeance In My Heart: A Novel of the Civil War

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This book is amazing. The author evidently went through a lot of research to write this book, and his work really paid off. Unlike Jeff Sharra's books, this one had a lot more conversation, which I think is a lot better.
I just thought this book was just amazing. I mean, I could not believe the accuracy, all the information, everything.
It's about a confederate guerrilla raid on the town of Lawrence, by a bloodthirsty man named William Clark Quantrill who said that every man in the town must be killed, because of their 'Union' sympathys. Some did manage to escape, and the town's women bravely risked their lives to save complete strangers. The whole thing just came alive to me through the author's exciting and well-written narrative.
This is a must-read book for anyone who is interested in the Civil War, and anything that is connected to it.

Vengeance in my heart is a book about Quantrill`s raid into Lawrence, one of the most daring and brutal feats of Quantrill and his raiders. The book gives you an insight in human nature, both good and bad, on both sides of the war. It is written in such a way that you can smell the gunsmoke, and hear the rebel yells.
It does not portray one side as totally good and the other as totally bad, but it gives you the realistic and neutral story of preparations, the raid and the aftermath. As a Cowboy action shooter (cas), member of Single Action Shooting Society (sass), Scandinavian Western Shooters (sws), and one of the founders of the cas club Quantrill Raiders in Norway, I feel this book is a must for everyone with an interest in the civil war, and the Missouri-Kansas border war in particular.

FROM THE COVER: "In 1863, Confederate guerrillas raided Lawrence, Kansas, unleashing in turn a torrent of revenge on western Missouri by Kansas and Federal soldiers. The author tracked down dozens of eyewitness accounts of the raid and aftermath, from diaries, memoirs, interviews, newspapers, and articles. This is the first true and complete account of the Lawrence Raid, using on reported dialogue, written in a novelized form. All characters and events in this book are real. A prologue and epilogue are also provided for historical context."
When Michael Shaara wrote "Killer Angels," concerning the Battle of Gettysburg, he supposedly used only dialogue reported by eyewitnesses. I used this as the basis for "Vengeance In My Heart," a story about the Lawrence Raid. Since the raid is rather obscure compared to Gettysburg, I produced a hybrid, the Prologue and Epilogue providing historical background that might be unknown to the reader. The novelized portion uses only reported dialogue, culled from the written records, as well as period photographs for descriptions.
Obtaining the reports on this raid was a lengthy process. The most complete version of the raid comes from Connelley's "Quantrill and the Border Wars." What I learned studying for my master's in US History was never to trust a footnote. Unfortunately, a number of Connelley's footnotes on sources were wrong. To compound this confusion, all subsequent books on the raid, such as Goodrich's "Bloody Dawn," used the same false footnotes for the same incidents in the raid. It is evident these subsequent authors regurgitated Connelley's version of events. In order to provide the most complete version of events, I tracked down numerous eyewitness reports never before cited. Using the opening attack on the Eldridge House as one example, I spent months assembling all the disparate writings like a jigsaw pussle to produce the most complete chronological description of that event.
Another device I used in writing this book was to eschew using the standard literary device of telling a story through one individual. With the possible exception of Larkin Skaggs (who was killed near the end), no Confederate guerrilla was everywhere, just as no citizen of Lawrence saw every incident and killing. What the reader should come away with while reading the book is a sense of the chaos of the raid. A citizen would be spared by one group of guerrillas only to be shot down by the next group.

Vengeance in my Heart -- A Novel of the Civil War

At the mention of the Civil War, my friend from Alabama makes this correction: "That's the `War Between the States', hon. There was nothing `civil' about it." After reading this book, I'm inclined to agree. When I studied the American Civil War in my Philadelphia high school, I learned about the Abolitionist movement. I learned about the fate of John Brown and the words to the song "John Brown's Body Lies A-Moulderin' In the Grave".

What I didn't learn about was the extent of the bloody raiding and guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery forces in Missouri and abolitionist "Jayhawkers" forces in Kansas. Not just John Brown, but hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people were murdered. The

most notorious and attrocious was the 1863 raid on Lawrence, Kansas, by a gang of 150 Confederates. The gang included such now-famous outlaws as Cole Younger and Frank and Jesse James, and was led by a rather mercurial character named William Quantrill. "Vengeance In My Heart" documents the Lawrence Raid in a novelized form, utilizing dialogue from eyewitness accounts. Most of the accounts come from letters and diaries of

the women of Lawrence, making this book unusual among Civil War histories by presenting a female perspective. Many of these women's husbands were massacred in the raid; hunted down and shot in cold blood. The Southern code of chivalry no doubt

protected the ladies of Lawrence, who fought valiantly to defend their menfolk. Again and again I was amazed by the accounts of wives who desperately grappled with the guerrillas and horses, or cunningly disguised and hid their loved ones. Southern chivalry did not prevent the raiders from burning down houses even as the women blocked their entrances. Besides the plucky ladies, there were some gallant Indians and freed former slaves who fought to protect Lawrence from the guerrillas. I found the carnage of "Vengeance In My Heart" horrifying. But this is a fascinating and little known history. The book concludes with a most interesting epilogue, in which the raiders' fates are

described. Not surprisingly, many met viloent ends. Others became "honest citizens" after the War, and some even were romanticized in legend.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about VENGEANCE IN MY HEART is that William Clark Quantrill, the leader of the Lawrence raid, lived in Lawrence prior to the war. He was a teacher and an abolitionist who participated in raids of Missouri, helping to free slaves. He was also run out of town, accused of thieving and cheating the Delaware Indians. When he switched sides he claimed that he had been working undercover to avenge the death of a brother at the hands of the Jayhawkers. There was no brother. This tidbit lends an aura of personal revenge as a possible motivation for the raid when we consider that many of the raider captains were opposed to it.
The author describes VENGEANCE IN MY HEART as a "novel of the civil war." Yet David K. Moore used only "reported dialogue" gleaned from diaries, memoirs, interviews, and newspapers. According to an end note, the work is a "true and complete" account of the Lawrence Raid. About the only thing lacking to make this a bonified history is an index and a bibliography. But it's definitely not a novel.
The book details family after family giving its account of its male members being brutally murdered. They were asked if they were from New England or Missouri. If they answered in the affirmative, they were killed since the raiders were after abolitionists and Missouri Unionists.
We also get to meet James Henry Lane, leader of the Jayhawkers. Quantrill's spies had informed him that Lane was not at home, but he was, living in the most ornate mansion in town. He managed to escape by hiding in a cornfield behind his house.
Perhaps the most interesting and disturbing character in the book is raider Larkin Skaggs, a Baptist preacher who believed in an eye for an eye. He has a definite story arc and we watch him kill townsman after townsman, then stay too long and suffer a fate similar to his victims.
Something else I wasn't aware of was that when the raiders finally left Lawrence, the Union cavalry was hot on their trail and that they came close to trapping them several times.
Rather than help the Confederate plight, the Lawrence Raid proved disastrous. In retaliation the army carried out General Order Number 11 forcing people in Jackson, Butler, Bates, and Saline counties to abandon their homes, thus depriving the bushwhackers of sanctuary.
The last illustration in the book seems rather shocking to Northern sensibilities. It shows a 1898 reunion of former Quantrill raiders where such luminaries as Frank James and Cole Younger were held up as romantic heroes.

Vengeance In My Heart:, David your research and the pictures are amazing. Love your Novel, it made me feel as part or as if I was there "Living it"

This is a must read for anyone who is interested or has any connection to "The Civil War"

Well done, and I can't wait to read your next book...