A History of Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas: Being an Account of the Early Settlements, the Civil War, the Ku-Klux, and Times of Peace (The Civil War in the West)
“Monks had been involved in so many blood-curdling controversies and adventures that he felt obliged to reminisce for those yet unborn. In reissuing this gripping account . . . the editors deserve gratitude and praise for their efforts and foresight.”—Missouri Historical Review“The book begins with a sentimental description of pioneering days of milk and honey in the 1840s and 1850s, but these saccharine remembrances are soon displaced by vignettes of violence . . . whiskey-fueled brawls . . . [and the] horrors of guerrilla warfare.”—Journal of the West“A riveting story and a valuable research tool.”—Daniel Sutherland, Civil War in the West series editor“William Monks’s compelling memoir of the Civil War and its aftermath in Missouri and Arkansas contains little about marching armies and set-piece battles, but it presents a fascinating account of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times. Here is a glimpse of the real war in the Trans-Mississippi where arson and ambuscades were commonplace events and everyone had a score to settle.”—William Shea,co-author of Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West (North Carolina, 1992)