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Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865
The first phase of the Civil War was fought west of the Mississippi River at least six years before the attack on Fort Sumter. Starting with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, Jay Monaghan traces the development of the conflict between the pro-slavery elements from Missouri and the New England abolitionists who migrated to Kansas. "Bleeding Kansas" provided a preview of the greater national struggle to come. The author allows a new look at Quantrill's sacking of Lawrence, organized bushwhackery, and border battles that cost thousands of lives. Not the least valuable are chapters on the American Indians’ part in the conflict. The record becomes devastatingly clear: the fighting in the West was the cruelest and most useless of the whole affair, and if men of vision had been in Washington in the 1850s it might have been avoided.
454 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 11, 2023
Jay Monaghan's Civil War on the Western Border is a classic popular account of that war's campaigns in Missouri and Kansas, where fighting raged the longest and lacked the textbook orderliness of better-known campaigns. Monaghan begins with the outbreak of violence in "Bleeding Kansas," a territory which became the locus of America's simmering tensions over slavery. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the prairie states to "popular sovereignty," the region flooded with Missouri slaveowners and Northern abolitionists, leading to political disputes and fraudulent elections that spilled over into violence. No sooner had these disturbances been tamped down than the broader War Between the States broke out, plunging the region immediately into renewed violence. Unlike the picturesque fighting in Virginia and Tennessee, the battles were relatively small, but no less fierce: Monaghan details the large-scale clashes at Wilson's Creek in Missouri and Pea Ridge in Arkansas, along with the depredations of bushwhackers like William Quantrill (strangely called by his middle name Charles here), Sterling Price's raids into Missouri and the war's spillover into Indian Territory, forcing the Cherokee and other "Five Civilized Tribes" into the conflict on either side. Battles were matched by massacres and sacks (Quantrill's sack of Lawrence, Nathaniel Lyon's suppression of St. Louis secessionists), while the polyglot mixture of both sides (not only Indians but freed African-Americans and German immigrants were heavily represented in the fighting) ensured an added edge of racial tensions. Monaghan details this messy conflict with a colorful, lucid narrative, providing effective portraits of its notorious participants: raiders Quantrill and John Brown, Yankee Generals Lyon and John Fremont, Rebel commanders Price and Jo Shelby, future Western legends Wild Bill Hickok (a Union Army scout) and Jesse James (one of Quantrill's raiders), Cherokee chiefs John Ross and Stand Watie, and most prominently Jim Lane, the violent, grizzled Jayhawker who led Yankee troops while serving as a US Senator, an artful mixture of antislavery fervor and bloodthirsty cussedness. Nowhere else, Monaghan argues, were the Civil War's issues of slavery and fratricidal bloodshed so graphically displayed as in this region's fighting; nowhere else was the war waged with less mercy or charity. And while other, more recent books (like Shea and Hess's fine chronicle of Pea Ridge) cover aspects of this campaign, none have managed such a thorough and entertaining job.
November 22, 2021
So far as I can gather, “Civil War on the Western Border: 1854-1865” is the classical history on the War in the Missouri-Kansas region. First note the years covered, not the traditional 1861-1865, for it postulates that the War on the Western border began long before then. It commences with the debate over the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 that brought the issue of slavey to the region. It continues with the violent tale of Bleeding Kansas, that was played out in fields, towns and halls of government. Extending through three presidential administrations, Pierce, Buchanan and Lincoln, the war on the border was a chronic challenge to the nation and a tragedy to the settlers involved.
With the advent of official war in 1861, the narrative covers military operations, largely in Missouri, from the Camp Jackson incident in St. Louis at the inception, through Wilson’s Creek, Lexington, Pea Ridge, and Price’s 1864 Quixotic raid across Missouri that ended in defeat at Westport. The tales involved Union leaders Nathanial Lyon, Thomas Ewing, James Lane and Samuel Curtis, as well as Confederates Sterling Price and William Quantrill. Of more anecdotal interest because of their later fame are Union soldiers William Butler (later Wild Bill) Hickock, William (to become Buffalo Bill) Cody, Confederate Bushwhacker Jesse James and author Ned Buntline of “Buntline Special” fame. I found the accounts of the involvement of rival Indian tribes and personnel, most prominently Stand Watie, who led Confederate Indians into battle and who would be the last Confederate general to surrender, to be very interesting. The competing factions prove that, in their case, allegiances were not predictable as may be thought by many today.
I appreciate this volume most for its overall perspective of the War on the western border. Author Jay Monaghan has crafted a story line that leads the reader through the War without excessively dwelling on the details of each battle. While the text occasionally requires “stick-to- it-ness”, overall it puts the elements of the saga into context of events in relation to each other and the larger war. I recommend “Civil War on the Western Border” as a starting point for study of the War in the Missouri-Kansas region.
With the advent of official war in 1861, the narrative covers military operations, largely in Missouri, from the Camp Jackson incident in St. Louis at the inception, through Wilson’s Creek, Lexington, Pea Ridge, and Price’s 1864 Quixotic raid across Missouri that ended in defeat at Westport. The tales involved Union leaders Nathanial Lyon, Thomas Ewing, James Lane and Samuel Curtis, as well as Confederates Sterling Price and William Quantrill. Of more anecdotal interest because of their later fame are Union soldiers William Butler (later Wild Bill) Hickock, William (to become Buffalo Bill) Cody, Confederate Bushwhacker Jesse James and author Ned Buntline of “Buntline Special” fame. I found the accounts of the involvement of rival Indian tribes and personnel, most prominently Stand Watie, who led Confederate Indians into battle and who would be the last Confederate general to surrender, to be very interesting. The competing factions prove that, in their case, allegiances were not predictable as may be thought by many today.
I appreciate this volume most for its overall perspective of the War on the western border. Author Jay Monaghan has crafted a story line that leads the reader through the War without excessively dwelling on the details of each battle. While the text occasionally requires “stick-to- it-ness”, overall it puts the elements of the saga into context of events in relation to each other and the larger war. I recommend “Civil War on the Western Border” as a starting point for study of the War in the Missouri-Kansas region.
April 16, 2012
History books like this one are difficult to rate because, on the one hand they may serve a vital role in the public domain, while on the other hand they suffer from certain technical problems.
Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865, was first published in 1955. I picked up my copy at the John Brown State Park in Osawatomie, Kansas and began reading it on the flight home from Kansas City to Arizona later that afternoon. Despite my deep and abiding interest in the subject matter, it took me just over two years to make it all the way through this book. Although the drama of the stories that Monaghan has to tell here is vast and thoroughly compelling, the density of the text can make it a rough read. A big part of the problem is the enormous cast of characters Monaghan must deal with. All too often individuals come and go in this long text and it's almost impossible for the novice to be able to remember exactly whom is being referred to. Frequently characterization is sacrificed to plot and we never have a very clear or reliable understanding of who these historical figures were as living and breathing human beings. One case in point is the very frustrating one of James Henry Lane. Although it's fairly clear that Monaghan is no fan of Lane, I got to the very end of the book without ever having formed a solid opinion of what Lane's character was like, or what really motivated the man.
Another serious problem with this book is its uneven use of anchoring dates. Monaghan's story necessarily moves back and forth in space and also in time, and often it becomes difficult to know when certain events are occurring in temporal relationship to other storylines. By the time a date is finally mentioned after six or seven pages, it's too late to go back in one's mind and reconstruct a mental timeline. Even more frustrating than that is Monaghan's forfeiture of standard footnotes, instead only appending an admittedly rather colossal section of references at the end which only refer to page numbers in the text. One is never certain of exactly which point being made within a certain page of the text refers to any given source. Consequently, a mirror funhouse bedevils anyone interested in tracking down primary or underlying sources. This is all the maddening because the notes section is so huge: Monaghan obviously did an enormous amount of research to create this book; unfortunately, his system of notated sources effectively blocks the reader from verifying, or expanding upon, any of that research.
Nevertheless, given the immensity of Monaghan's tale, I've yet to find a book that covers this material any better. Monaghan does serve as an important repository for all these stories in the popular domain. Anyone interested in the events transpiring in eastern Kansas and all of Missouri and northern Arkansas in the period in question should give this book a try.
Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865, was first published in 1955. I picked up my copy at the John Brown State Park in Osawatomie, Kansas and began reading it on the flight home from Kansas City to Arizona later that afternoon. Despite my deep and abiding interest in the subject matter, it took me just over two years to make it all the way through this book. Although the drama of the stories that Monaghan has to tell here is vast and thoroughly compelling, the density of the text can make it a rough read. A big part of the problem is the enormous cast of characters Monaghan must deal with. All too often individuals come and go in this long text and it's almost impossible for the novice to be able to remember exactly whom is being referred to. Frequently characterization is sacrificed to plot and we never have a very clear or reliable understanding of who these historical figures were as living and breathing human beings. One case in point is the very frustrating one of James Henry Lane. Although it's fairly clear that Monaghan is no fan of Lane, I got to the very end of the book without ever having formed a solid opinion of what Lane's character was like, or what really motivated the man.
Another serious problem with this book is its uneven use of anchoring dates. Monaghan's story necessarily moves back and forth in space and also in time, and often it becomes difficult to know when certain events are occurring in temporal relationship to other storylines. By the time a date is finally mentioned after six or seven pages, it's too late to go back in one's mind and reconstruct a mental timeline. Even more frustrating than that is Monaghan's forfeiture of standard footnotes, instead only appending an admittedly rather colossal section of references at the end which only refer to page numbers in the text. One is never certain of exactly which point being made within a certain page of the text refers to any given source. Consequently, a mirror funhouse bedevils anyone interested in tracking down primary or underlying sources. This is all the maddening because the notes section is so huge: Monaghan obviously did an enormous amount of research to create this book; unfortunately, his system of notated sources effectively blocks the reader from verifying, or expanding upon, any of that research.
Nevertheless, given the immensity of Monaghan's tale, I've yet to find a book that covers this material any better. Monaghan does serve as an important repository for all these stories in the popular domain. Anyone interested in the events transpiring in eastern Kansas and all of Missouri and northern Arkansas in the period in question should give this book a try.
May 1, 2018
A lot of attention isn't spent on the Kansas-Missouri theater during the American Civil War. To be fair, there were no threats to national capitals and population centers like in the Eastern Theater and there also wasn't economic and transportation centers threatened like in the Western Theater that focused around the Mississippi River. From a memory perspective there also wasn't the armies of hundreds of thousands of men that would record their experiences.
So why look at the Western Border Theater/Kansas-Missouri Theater? With no apparent national stakes and with armies that never numbered more than 30,000 was there any point to the fighting? Jay Monaghan gives a broad overview of the major personalities and events of the Kansas-Missouri area from before the start of Bloody Kansas to the end of the major fighting in 1865. The book is a good introduction if the reader has a basic understanding of the American Civil War.
The strength of the book is in Monaghan's foundation laying of linking American expansion, the Mexican-American War and Bloody Kansas to the American Civil War. Once Monaghan gets into the widespread fighting and the rise of the bushwhackers, the narrative becomes both compressed for individual actions but it also becomes very broad. You also need a map if you aren't familiar with the geography of Kansas-Missouri as one isn't provided.
So why look at the Western Border Theater/Kansas-Missouri Theater? With no apparent national stakes and with armies that never numbered more than 30,000 was there any point to the fighting? Jay Monaghan gives a broad overview of the major personalities and events of the Kansas-Missouri area from before the start of Bloody Kansas to the end of the major fighting in 1865. The book is a good introduction if the reader has a basic understanding of the American Civil War.
The strength of the book is in Monaghan's foundation laying of linking American expansion, the Mexican-American War and Bloody Kansas to the American Civil War. Once Monaghan gets into the widespread fighting and the rise of the bushwhackers, the narrative becomes both compressed for individual actions but it also becomes very broad. You also need a map if you aren't familiar with the geography of Kansas-Missouri as one isn't provided.
February 10, 2025
This is probably the single most readable account of the actions along the western border during the Civil War and Bleeding Kansas, and does a much better job of many more focused works in tying the events between the two. The greatest strength of this work is in the characterizations of the various figures - people were simply more colorful back then than they are now.
This work is originally from the 1950s though and is showing its age. There are several errors of fact, although none are show-stopping (a reference to Andersonville in the Prairie Grove material is anachrostic as the prison was not open in 1862, Stand Watie and his troopers are incorrectly stated to have been present at the Battle of Prairie Grove, and Quantrill is consistently given the first name of "Charles"). The handling of Price's 1864 Missouri campaign is a bit melodramatic, and most of the colorful quotes given to Shelby actually originate with John Newman Edwards, who took a rather fast and loose approach to historical fact. The Edwards influence also shows in some of the more overwrought descriptions of Price.
Even with the above, this would still be a good introductory work for readers unfamiliar with the topic area, except for the complete lack of maps.
This work is originally from the 1950s though and is showing its age. There are several errors of fact, although none are show-stopping (a reference to Andersonville in the Prairie Grove material is anachrostic as the prison was not open in 1862, Stand Watie and his troopers are incorrectly stated to have been present at the Battle of Prairie Grove, and Quantrill is consistently given the first name of "Charles"). The handling of Price's 1864 Missouri campaign is a bit melodramatic, and most of the colorful quotes given to Shelby actually originate with John Newman Edwards, who took a rather fast and loose approach to historical fact. The Edwards influence also shows in some of the more overwrought descriptions of Price.
Even with the above, this would still be a good introductory work for readers unfamiliar with the topic area, except for the complete lack of maps.
January 29, 2020
Not just 1, but 2 stars because it has some rare yet editorialized accounts of the Kansas/Missouri border war. This review by historian James C. Malin in the American Historical Review of 1956 is as good as any: “Seemingly incredible, but true nevertheless, though about half the book is devoted to a description of military strategy and tactics of the border warfare of 1861-1865 there is no map of any kind.”
September 19, 2025
Informative all right, mixing the doings of senators and generals with ordinary soldiers. Their stories are often compelling and quite entertaining, written with vivid language. The larger picture is more than a little muddled, however. If you don’t know this convoluted history already, this might not be the book to start with. Informative as hell though.
May 4, 2025
This was some of the most niche knowledge I’d ever heard concerning any major war, with this text being the only one I could find on the subject to really delve into the details. That, and it’s incredibly entertaining and riveting.
April 30, 2020
Ok, so if you're not a big Civil War nut, or even a history nut, you probably aren't going to like this book. I was in the army for 4 1/2 years, and I still didn't know a lot of the military terms they used. But most Civil War histories concentrate on battles in eastern states, and I'd always wondered what part Missouri, Kansas, etc. played in the war, so this was interesting to me. One thing that was especially educational was how the "Border War" between Kansas and Missouri began; the "War" continues today with the rivalry between MU and kU. Living in central MO, I could actually recognize the locations of the skirmishes and battles - Lexington, Concordia, Boonville; heck, even my hometown of Sedalia was mentioned!
One complaint that I do have is with the author's use of hearsay. When there are conflicting reports, or if there is no first-hand account of what a person was thinking/saying, etc., the author resorts to a lot of "he might have said" or "one would expect him to have thought at this time..."
//edit: re-reading a second time for my project of reading my sister's to-read list//
One complaint that I do have is with the author's use of hearsay. When there are conflicting reports, or if there is no first-hand account of what a person was thinking/saying, etc., the author resorts to a lot of "he might have said" or "one would expect him to have thought at this time..."
//edit: re-reading a second time for my project of reading my sister's to-read list//
August 30, 2016
this is an excellent primer on the war in the western theatre. You will clearly gain an understanding of how bloody Kansas led to guerrilla warfare in Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas. You will learn about the major figures in the war on the western border. I read that people do not like the terminology used in the book, but I found it to be refreshing.
May 25, 2014
A great detailed account of the Civil War along the Kansas-Missouri border. Great for those who have local ties to the area.
March 30, 2016
Well written, even if it is a bit antiquated. Good descriptions of the characters involved and events leading up to big events like the battle at Prairie Gove, Ark.
April 8, 2012
The bleeding Kansas portion of this is the most vivid I've read
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews