Daredevils of the Confederate Army: The Story of the St. Albans Raiders

by Oscar Arvle Kinchen

Overview

This is an exciting story about a little known incident in the Civil War that took place in October 1864, when a small band of young Confederate soldiers, led by a gallant young rebel theology student from Kentucky named Bennett Young, crossed the border from Canada and settled in Vermont. There they proceeded to launch a surprise attack on St. Albans, Vermont, robbing and burning the small town in an attempt to strike terror into defenseless civilians throughout the north.

The Confederates were estimated to have stolen some US$200,000 in greenbacks and federal bonds, harangued the officials upon federal atrocities in the south, and compelled their cringing listeners to swear allegiance to the south. The raid also met its goal of sowing widespread panic along the Union’s northern border.

Although the raid ultimately ended up having little impact on the outcome of the war, Daredevils of the Confederate Army has great historical value and will be of interest to everyone who enjoys reading tales of daring and adventure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789123999
Publisher:	Papamoa Press
Publication date:	12/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	123
File size:	628 KB

About the Author

Oscar Arvle Kinchen (1889-1983) was an American author and historian.

He was born on January 14, 1889, in Adamsville, Tennessee and moved to Erick, Oklahoma with his family in 1905. After completing his high school education, he taught for a time in various rural school districts in Oklahoma, South Dakota, and California. He attended the University of Oklahoma, where he received his B.A. degree in 1916 and his M.A. in 1920. He pursued graduate studies at Stanford University and the University of Chicago, and became interested in British, Canadian, and diplomatic history. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in the 1930s.

Kinchen taught at a number of colleges before becoming a faculty member in the history and anthropology department at Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock, Texas. He was a member of the Canadian Historical Association, the West Texas Historical Association and the American Historical Association. He published several articles on Canada, the Southwest, and the Civil War era in various historical journals, including the Canadian Historical Review, Vermont History, and the Chronicles of Oklahoma. His first book, Lord Russell’s Canadian Policy, was published in 1945. Later books included The Rise and Fall of the Patriot Hunters (1956), Confederate Operations in Canada and the North (1970), and Women Who Spied for the Blue and the Gray (1973). Much of his work was concerned with little-known aspects of Canadian-United States relations during the Civil War, including the raid on St. Albans, Vermont, by Confederate agents in November 1864.

Kinchen was named Man of the Year at Texas Tech in 1964 and, on his retirement from teaching that same year, was named professor emeritus of history.

He died in Lubbock on February 9, 1983, aged 94, and was buried in the Erick (Oklahoma) Cemetery. A memorial scholarship fund was set up in his honor through the Texas Tech Foundation.