… in History, Memory, and Myth" .
"Recent decades have witnessed an explosion of Civil War guerrilla warfare studies that have manifestly altered previously simplistic perceptions and understanding (for the better) of the "inner war" that raged across much of the continent during the conflict. This newfound sophistication has immeasurably enhanced the quality of many of the military, social, economic, political, and local home front studies being published today. Drawing from this new breadth of knowledge while offering significant insights of their own are the eight essays contained in The Civil War Guerrilla: Unfolding the Black Flag in History, Memory, and Myth, edited by historians Joseph Beilein and Matthew Hulbert.
In his introduction to the volume, Christopher Phillips expresses his appreciation for the pioneering scholarship of Michael Fellman while also politely but firmly rejecting some of the late professor's most tightly held views on the guerrilla war as a largely nihilistic arena of violence created by the basest instincts of mankind when unshackled by civilization's prior constraints. Unlike Fellman, Phillips believes that strong ideological concerns underpinned the actions of most Civil War irregular warriors in Missouri, among other things (including draft evasion) citing evidence for a demonstrably strong upswing in guerrilla violence in the state immediately after the Emancipation Proclamation that continued to escalate to coincide with the enlistment of black troops.
Another contributor that sees clear patterns rather than random violence and chaos is Andrew Fialka, whose utterly fascinating article attempts to discover Central Missouri trends using a novel quantitative "spatiotemporal" mapping technique plotting guerrilla incidents over time. Overall, Fialka's data finds that guerrillas primarily targeted Union troops and militia but perhaps the most interesting finding is the close relationship between temporary Union occupation of an area and retaliatory violence against civilians. With large permanent garrisons established all over the state, 1861 witnessed little guerrilla violence but as the war progressed, and more and more regiments were withdrawn from Missouri, the increasingly sporadic presence of occupying forces and reliance instead on short-lived expeditions correlate strongly in time and place with the tragic explosions of guerrilla violence that occurred during 1863-64…"
Full review here
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Amicalement
Armand
looks at some new terrain products, which use space age technology!
