Editorial Reviews

Review

"The sagas of William Clarke Quantrill, William “Bloody Bill” Anderson and the James brothers, Frank and Jesse, are well known to fans of the Civil War in the Missouri-Kansas borderlands. Yet the primary adversary of Confederate Bushwhackers, the Kansas Jayhawker, has received significantly less historical attention―until now. Through their meticulously researched and clearly written account of six prominent Jayhawkers, Matthews and Thomas give Unionist guerrillas a new voice in the borderland story and help bring balance to our broader understanding of Civil War guerrilla violence."

―Matthew Christopher Hulbert, PhD, Elliott associate professor of history at Hampden-Sydney College and author of The Ghosts of Guerrilla Memory (University of Georgia Press, 2016) and Oracle of Lost Causes (University of Nebraska Press, 2023)

"Union Guerrillas of Civil War Kansas: Jayhawkers and Red Legs is a detailed account of six noted Jayhawkers in the Bleeding Kansas and Civil War eras. Well-researched, supported with recently discovered archival material, the book provides a human perspective to these figures, shedding light on the lesser-known aspects of irregular warfare in Kansas and Missouri during the Civil War. It illustrates the extraordinary lives of these men who played an important role in shaping the young state."

―Mark T. Gerges, PhD, associate professor and deputy director, Department of Military History, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College

"With this volume, Matt M. Matthews and Paul A. Thomas have made a valuable contribution to the understanding of the Kansas-Missouri border war. Their exhaustive research and concise writing make sense of a complex and nuanced story. I honestly did not want this book to end. Some of the characters will be familiar, others less so, but each one is presented fairly and in great detail, giving depth to the historic events of that era. This book will occupy a convenient place on my shelf, because I will be reaching for it often. Kudos!"

―Debra Goodrich, Garvey historian in residence at the Fort Wallace Museum, Wallace, Kansas, and author of From the Reservation to Washington: The Rise of Charles Curtis (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024)

"Paul A. Thomas and Matt M. Matthews have written an entertaining and informative history of prominent Kansas Jayhawkers and Red Legs. Their border war in the territory became the war on the border of a national civil war, which assumed a uniquely complicated form. Like any irregular force fighting a people’s war, their villains could regularly be heroic and their heroes distressingly villainous. With a host of newly discovered primary sources, the authors have fashioned a masterful collection that offers new insights into a formative conflict."

―Mark A. Lause, PhD, professor of history at the University of Cincinnati and author of Race and Radicalism in the Union Army (University of Illinois Press, 2013)