Damned Yankee: The Life of General Nathaniel Lyon

by Christopher Phillips

Nathaniel Lyon (1818–1861) was the first Union general to die in the Civil War. Killed at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, he became the North’s first war hero, famed as the man who saved Missouri for the Union. In Damned Yankee, chosen by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Book in 1991, Christopher Phillips portrays Lyon not as the savior of a border state threatened by secessionist extremists but as an unbalanced, monomaniacal Unionist zealot who purposely―and perhaps unnecessarily―brought war to a fragile state whose populace had voted overwhelmingly to stay out of the conflict.

Phillips meticulously examines Lyon’s role in the Camp Jackson affair, his quest to oust the pro-southern governor of Missouri, and his campaign to eliminate the secessionist element in the state. He contends that Lyon’s actions in Missouri in 1861 were congruent with his dogmatic personality and troubled past. Damned Yankee is a complex, often shocking, portrait of one of the most controversial figures of the Civil War and a sobering study of how the faults of men may greatly affect history.

Genres: Civil War, Biography

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Christopher Phillips is Professor of History and Department Head at the University of Cincinnati.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, this guy was irascible, bullheaded, and may have been somewhat psychotic. The first Union General to fall in the Civil War, this is one of those Civil War tales that somewhat go by the wayside, but this book gives such a solid account of this man, his times, and especially the powder-keg that was Missouri leading into the Civil War.

I enjoy books about hot-tempered Generals, moving on to the next one shortly!

[Bob R Bogle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The role of the state of Missouri in the American Civil War is terribly complex, as any student of the Western Theater is painfully aware. Besides the difficulty of divided loyalties shattered into so many different factions and interests ― political, social, pro- and anti-slavery, pro- and anti-Union, economic interests, German and Irish immigration, etc. ― one must also have a facile, working familiarity with Bleeding Kansas, as well as with the guerrilla war, which in some ways can be seen as a second, more personal and ugly war contemporaneous with the Civil War. While providing appropriate coverage of all these aspects of the story he would tell, in Damned Yankee: The Life of General Nathaniel Lyon, Christopher Phillips has also provided a superb biographical recounting of the life of one of the most pivotal players in the early part of Missouri's Civil War tale. Let me tell you something: in technical terms alone, in the level of research and private reflection required to produce this kind of book, this is no mean feat.

Although Phillips' prose flows smoothly enough, this very well researched book is not particularly easy to read and understand. A certain degree of familiarity with the story is not required, but it's most definitely helpful, and even then, this is a book that demands real intellectual engagement and not infrequent pauses to let the implications of the text sink in, to wrangle with them, to engage with Phillips and his arguments and evidence, to struggle with complex personalities long dead and to try to reach one's own conclusions about the subject matter under consideration. I will tell you that this book has caused me to rethink my own assumptions about the character of Nathaniel Lyon, and in truth to conclude that, in certain ways, I don't understand this man, and perhaps I never will. This kind of ambiguity about character is the opposite of what we expect to find in a biography, but perhaps it is fitting with regard to Lyon, who died so early in the war before leaving a more substantial body of evidence for us to examine.

Sometimes when reading this book I felt I detected a little bit of authorial bias seeping through. This bothered me a few times, but not overly so: this is a balanced book, and when Phillips is expressing his own opinions and conclusions, these are usually apparent for what they are; what's more, we all have biases of which we are generally unaware, and these lead to what is called style and tone in an author's voice. Some of Phillips conclusions I disagree with, whether these are about Lyon's personality or the significance of his stance at Springfield and Wilson's Creek, although I freely admit that Phillips lays out his reasons for his conclusions quite clearly, and even if I hold differing opinions, or even divergent opinions, I respect Phillips sufficiently to recognize that his viewpoint may be closer to the truth than my own. In other words, I will continue to grapple with this book now that I'm finished reading it.

Many students of the Civil War are more partisan than I, and depending on their starting point they will have very strong opinions about Nathaniel Lyon and so will probably reflexively praise or loathe this author and some or all of this book. That is a shame, I think. All of our heroes (e.g., Nathaniel Lyon and/or Sterling Price, say) have human hearts, all of them make mistakes, all of them make some choices on the spur of the moment which in hindsight strike us as genius or as evidence of a heinous soul. Whichever way your more partisan leanings tend, I think in this book you will find Lyon to be as terribly complex a character as the times in which he lived and died.

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this on a recommendation, and I was glad I did. This is a superbly written biography and a fair one. Lyon was a man of action, daring, and conviction. He was also inflexible, thought himself the instrument of God (but disdained organized religion), and was violent, even overseeing one of the US army's greatest war crimes. His slaughter of the indigenous and heavy-handed ways in Missouri were condoned because his cruelty was directed at the right kind of people, that is, the kind the American government saw as enemies of progress. Indeed, the current scholarship praises Lyon's actions in Missouri because the hardliners once again are made into heroes in this Manichean age, but as long as they are on the "right" side. Nothing has changed since then, and I submit nothing could be more American than renaming a fort in 2023 after this callous psychopath.

I think Phillips is right. Lyon made the situation in Missouri worse, even if his drive down the Missouri River did great damage to the nascent Confederates. Then again, the ease with which he did it makes it clear that Missouri was in no great peril, and his actions arguably made the Confederates in Missouri stronger. Furthermore, his military judgement before and during Wilson's Creek makes it clear that, combined with his rough personality, he would not have been a great commander of the conflict. He died at just the right time to have more admirers than he deserves.

[Jeff Pollock · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on an early "hero" of the Civil War, and in part quite compelling. The depiction of Lyon as a bit psychotic and extremely stubborn is presented with compelling evidence from both Lyon's own writings and the historical record. Less compelling is the author's argument that Lyon's actions were the principal immediate cause of the war beginning in Missouri. While Lyon may have initiated the Camp Jackson affair, viewing that as the cause for the bitter conflagration that grips Missouri is dismissive of the state's recent history, and the local events leading up to Lyon compelling the surrender of Secessionist forces in St. Louis, namely the seizure of the arsenal at Liberty MO., and the raising of the same secessionist force which continually threatened the St. Louis arsenal and mint. Phillips presents a compelling case, but the larger context thwarts the conclusion he draws for the initiation of hostilities.

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, he really was a Damned Yankee. I have always loved the Battle of Wilson's Creek since my family visited when I was young. I was excited to learn that there was a biography on General Lyon. I knew he was intense and driven, however I had not made him nearly fanatical enough in my mind. Great job expressing the drive and violence that dominated this fanatic of the Union.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️’s. Interested in U.S. Civil War, comfortable reading, the subject (General Nathaniel Lyons a nutmegger , as am I.); so, rating inflated. However, interesting biography of a man who—antebellum through to his death—attended West Point, served on frontier, “bleeding Kansas,” and during The Civil War. Surely a footnote to history, but a man who became known as the “Savior of Missouri”.