Civil War on the Western Border: 1854-1865 is the classical history on the War in the Missouri-Kansas region.  First note the years covered, not the traditional 1861-1865, for it postulates that the War on the Western border began long before then.  Commencing with the debate over the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 that brought the issue of slavey to the region, it continues with the violent tale of Bleeding Kansas, that was played out in fields, towns and halls of government.  Extending through three presidential administrations, Pierce, Buchanan and Lincoln, the war on the border was a chronic challenge to the nation and a tragedy to the settlers involved. 

With the advent of official war in 1861, the narrative covers military operations, largely in Missouri, from the Camp Jackson incident in St. Louis at the inception, through Wilson’s Creek, Lexington, Pea Ridge, and Price’s 1864 Quixotic raid across Missouri that ended in defeat at Westport.  The tales involved Union leaders Nathanial Lyon, Thomas Ewing, James Lane and Samuel Curtis, as well as Confederates Sterling Price and William Quantrill.  Of more anecdotal interest because of their later fame are Union soldiers William Butler (later Wild Bill) Hickock, William (to become Buffalo Bill) Cody, Confederate Bushwhacker Jesse James and author Ned Buntline of “Buntline Special” fame.  I found the accounts of the involvement of rival Indian tribes and personnel, most prominently Stand Watie, who led Confederate Indians into battle and who would be the last Confederate general to surrender, to be very interesting.  The competing factions prove that, in their case, allegiances were not predictable as may be thought by many today. 

War History Network readers will appreciate this volume most for its overall perspective of the War on the western border.   Author Jay Monaghan has crafted a story line that leads the reader through the War without excessively dwelling on the details of each battle.  While the text occasionally requires “stick-to- it-ness”, overall it puts the elements of the saga into context of events in relation to each other and the larger war.  I recommend “Civil War on the Western Border” as a starting point for study of the War in the Missouri-Kansas region.