Overview

"Most Americans are familiar with major Civil War battles such as Manassas (Bull Run), Shiloh, and Gettysburg, which have been extensively analyzed by generations of historians. However, not all of the war's engagements were fought in a conventional manner by regular forces. Often referred to as ""the wars within the war,"" guerrilla combat touched states from Virginia to New Mexico. Guerrillas fought for the Union, the Confederacy, their ethnic groups, their tribes, and their families. They were deadly forces that plundered, tortured, and terrorized those in their path, and their impact is not yet fully understood. In this richly diverse volume, Joseph M. Beilein Jr. and Matthew C. Hulbert assemble a team of both rising and eminent scholars to examine guerrilla warfare in the South during the Civil War. Together, they discuss irregular combat as practiced by various communities in multiple contexts, including how it was used by Native Americans, the factors that motivated raiders in the border states, and the women who participated as messengers, informants, collaborators, and combatants. They also explore how the Civil War guerrilla has been mythologized in history, literature, and folklore. The Civil War Guerrilla sheds new light on the ways in which thousands of men, women, and children experienced and remembered the Civil War as a conflict of irregular wills and tactics. Through thorough research and analysis, this timely book provides readers with a comprehensive examination of the guerrilla soldier and his role in the deadliest war in U.S. history."

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9780813165325

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Reviews

The essays included in this volume underscore the compelling nature and significance of guerilla warfare. Historians increasingly acknowledge that irregular warfare was in fact decisive to the conflict; but these authors further probe the motivations, narratives and memories by the guerrillas themselves. This is a vitally important book for all historians of the Civil War era. -- Lesley J. Gordon, author of A Broken Regiment: The 16th Connecticut's Civil War

As Civil War scholarship continues to take a darker turn to unearth more stories pertaining to death, destruction, and suffering, the chaos (or controlled chaos) of guerrilla warfare logically should be front and center in that growing trend. The scholarship presented in this volume is fresh, well-researched and provocatively presented. Unfolding the Black Flag effectively injects race, region, and memory into our collective consciousness of guerrilla warfare, and the book is a must-read for academics, students, and Civil War enthusiasts. -- Brian Craig Miller, author of Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South

A useful and fascinating work in a...neglected field. Highly recommended. -- Choice

[...] The essays are well written and researched [...] This volume covers a wide range of topics on Civil War guerrilla warfare and is recommended for the perspectives which its essays provide on this somewhat shadowy subject. That the subject is now coming into its own can only be a good thing. -- Journal of America's Military Past

Author Information

Joseph M. Beilein Jr. is assistant professor of history at Penn State University, Erie, USA. He has published articles and reviews in publications including Civil War History and The Civil War Monitor. Matthew C. Hulbert has published articles in Civil War History, The Journal of the Civil War Era, Common-Place: The Interactive Journal of Early American Life, and Journal of the West.

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