"Reconstruction Conflicts" Topic

I am undertaking a large report regarding guerrilla warfare and conflict during the Reconstruction Era and I was hoping I could receive some assistance in finding some detailed accounts of southern paramilitary groups against Union forces or Union-backed militia or any armed conflict during this period in general. All help is appreciated, many thanks

There were few, if any. By the end of the war, war weariness in the south meant no one was interested in fighting anymore.

Having said that, the exception would be the KKK and like groups who would be more akin to racist criminals carrying out terrorist acts. Not something I would want to wargame.

This doesn't mean there wasn't resistance, but to call them guerrillas is a bit of a stretch.

But, if you're interested, you may want to take a look at the book, "The Bloody Shirt: Terror After the Civil War."

As raylev3 said, mostly terrorist acts rather than combat. Late in the period there are some actual armed insurrections. New Orleans was taken over by an armed mob. Wilmington North Carolina was taken over in an armed insurrection. Post combat executions were a feature of both.

Southern 'resistance' was aimed almost exclusively against the blacks to make sure they didn't actually get any of the new rights they had been promised. Thousands were murdered in 1866 alone.

Not something anyone would want to game, I'm thinking.

Most of the conflict in the Reconstruction era consisted of lynchings, burned-out houses, and shootings in public without repercussions. It was a campaign of intimidation focused on beating down the newly-freed former slaves that suddenly became voting citizens. They also absorbed the Southern anger over losing the war (instead of blaming Jeff Davis or the generals). That doesn't mean the blacks did not shoot back, but they rarely survived when they did.

Reconstruction conflicts would be very ugly, usually involving extreme violence directed against unprepared individuals or families. While both sides resorted to this, it was more common among the pro-Confederate extremists. Pro-Federal extremists during Reconstruction would have resorted to legal terror, using legal officials and rigged juries and if all else failed Federal troops to obtain the same result.

There were instances or more conventional type conflicts especially later in the era over who won different elections. Most were on the county level, but South Carolina nearly had one in 1876-7 over the governor's election. I'd put the Wilmington insurrection after the end of the Reconstruction era.

The likes of the James gang in Missouri were left-over guerillas/bushwhackers from the War.

The James/Younger gangs raid on Northfield, MN was viewed by them as a continuation of the war because of the First National Bank's link to two Union generals and Republican politicians: Benjamin Butler and Adelbert Ames.

There is actually an excellent little known movie about that raid. Stars Robert Duvall as Jesse James.
See link: link

The James brothers had ridden with Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson during the War.

Why watch The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid when you can watch The Long Riders. One of my favorite westerns.

I actually bank in Northfield, although not at the 1st National Bank that still exists, and whilst I enjoy The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid the landscape looks nothing like that part of Minnesota.

The Long Riders is closer to 1870's Minnesota.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll keep an eye out. Sadly it's not on netflix.