A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War

by Daniel E. Sutherland

Overview

The American Civil War is famous for epic battles involving massive armies outfitted in blue and gray uniforms, details that characterize conventional warfare. A Savage Conflict is the first work to treat guerrilla warfare as critical to understanding the course and outcome of the Civil War. Daniel Sutherland argues that irregular warfare took a large toll on the Confederate war effort by weakening support for state and national governments and diminishing the trust citizens had in their officials to protect them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807888674
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	07/01/2009
Series:	Civil War America
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	456
Lexile:	1800L (what's this?)
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Daniel E. Sutherland is professor of history at the University of Arkansas. He is author or editor of thirteen books, including Guerrillas, Unionists, and Violence on the Confederate Home Front.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Scholarly attention to guerrilla activity during the Civil War has expanded dramatically in recent years, with Dan Sutherland leading the charge. A Savage Conflict is a culmination of that good work, in which Sutherland makes the fullest and most compelling case yet for the pervasiveness of irregular warfare, for the many forms it took and the forces that drove it, and for its considerable impact on the course of the war, both militarily and on the home front. It's a masterful study and a major contribution to our understanding of the internal divisiveness that characterized this most uncivil of civil wars.—John C. Inscoe, coauthor of The Heart of Confederate Appalachia

Sutherland argues that the Civil War cannot be truly understood unless one examines the brutal guerrilla fighting that spread across the Confederacy and even into the Midwest. In scope and breadth, A Savage Conflict approaches the encyclopedic, stretching from Florida to Iowa. There is nothing like it in Civil War studies.—Kenneth W. Noe, Auburn University

Editorial Reviews

“Sutherland places the 'Gray Ghost,' John Singleton Mosby; John Hunt Morgan; 'Bloody Bill' Anderson; bushwhackers; Red Legs; and jayhawkers, among many others, in the larger context of the 'irrepressible conflict' in this wide-ranging account.” — CHOICE

“[A] very strong analysis of guerrilla warfare that is pertinent to counterinsurgency operations today. . . . Provide[s] excellent analysis.” — Journal of Military History

“Perhaps the most comprehensive analysis of guerrilla warfare during the Civil War to date. . . . Well written and exhaustively researched. . . . Specialists and enthusiasts of the Civil War will enjoy this book as it is an excellent addition to any Civil War library.” — On Point

“Sutherland’s solid scholarship dispels the resilient image of guerrillas as colorful ancillaries of the 'real war' and integrates them into the broader narrative of the period. . . . An extremely valuable book.” — Journal of American History

“No one has ever undertaken a survey this complete, this solidly based in an almost incredible array of primary sources, and this well rooted in the historiography. . . . Sutherland’s achievement in compiling all this material and elucidating it with a convincing thesis is formidable.” — Journal of Southern History

“Will surely invigorate discussion of guerilla conflict in the Civil War. . . . Sutherland has set the stage for further considerations on the place of guerilla warfare within American society.” — Virginia Quarterly Review

“A comprehensive survey, well written and very readable. . . . A needed view of the war that is seldom seen.” — TOCWOC: A Civil War Blog

“A welcome addition to the literature on guerilla warfare in America.” — Intelligence Service Europe Newsletter

“With this masterful work, Daniel E. Sutherland has presented historians of the American Civil War with the most important single volume on the role of guerrilla warfare to appear in twenty years. Scholars of the conflict have long awaited the publication of Sutherland’s definitive work and the book does not disappoint.” — Common-place

“The most comprehensive investigation of the topic to date. . . . Sutherland’s impeccably researched study is long overdue and certain to become essential reading for anyone attempting to understand the effect of guerrillas on the Civil War and especially on Confederate defeat.” — Virginia Magazine

From the Publisher