The Homefront in Civil War Missouri (Civil War Series)

Over One Thousand Civil War Engagements Were Fought In Missouri, And The Conflict Could Not Be Quarantined From Civilian Life. In The Countryside, The Wives And Mothers Of Absent Soldiers Had To Cope With Marauders From Both Sides. Children Saw Their Fathers And Brothers Beaten, Hanged Or Shot. In The Cities, A Cheer For Jeff Davis Could Land A Young Boy In Jail, And A Letter To A Sweetheart In The Confederate Army Could Get A Girl Banished From The State. Women Volunteered To Care For The Flood Of Wounded And Sick Soldiers. Slavery Crumbled And Created New Opportunities For Black Men To Serve In The Union Army But Left Their Families Vulnerable To Retaliation At Home. The Turbulence And Bitterness Of Guerrilla War Was Everywhere. A Border State On The Cusp Of The War -- The Problem Of Slavery In A Loyal Border State -- Dispensing And Dispensing With Justice In A Guerrilla War -- Missouri As Military Base -- Living With Soldiers And Guerrillas: Rural Missouri In 1862 -- Religion And Religious Freedom In The Midst Of Guerrilla War -- Women Couriers, Cannoneers And Children Fight The War -- War Weariness Sets In: Rural Missouri In 1863-64 -- Medical Care And The Western Sanitary Commission -- Confrontation, Emancipation, And The Ironclad Oath. James Erwin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

Over one thousand Civil War engagements were fought in Missouri, and the conflict could not be quarantined from civilian life. In the countryside, the wives and mothers of absent soldiers had to cope with marauders from both sides. Children saw their fathers and brothers beaten, hanged or shot. In the cities, a cheer for Jeff Davis could land a young boy in jail, and a letter to a sweetheart in the Confederate army could get a girl banished from the state. Women volunteered to care for the flood of wounded and sick soldiers. Slavery crumbled and created new opportunities for black men to serve in the Union army but left their families vulnerable to retaliation at home. The turbulence and bitterness of guerrilla war was everywhere.