Recounted by an ordinary Confederate soldier turned Southern guerrilla, Joseph M. Bailey’s memoir,
Confederate Guerrilla , provides a unique perspective on the fighting that took place behind Union lines in Federal-occupied northwest Arkansas during the American Civil War. Bailey’s story - now published for the first time - will appeal to modern readers’ interest in the grassroots history of the Trans-Mississippi war. He participated in such engagements as the Battle of Pea Ridge and the siege of Port Hudson and, at the Port Hudson surrender, escaped to northwest Arkansas where he fought as a guerrilla against Federal troops and civilian unionists. After Federal forces gained control of the area, Bailey rejoined the Confederate army and continued in regular service in northeast Texas until the end of the war. Historians will find the descriptions of military campaigns useful and Bailey’s observations on the causes and nature of the guerrilla war especially valuable. According to Bailey, Southern guerrillas were motivated less by a sense of loyalty to either the Confederate or Union side than by a determination to protect their families and neighbors from the
Mountain Federals
of northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri. This partisan war waged between the rebel guerrillas and Southern unionists was essentially, as Bailey puts it, a
struggle for supremacy and revenge.
Comprehensive annotations are provided by editor T. Lindsay Baker, who has verified the facts relating to almost every person, incident, and location mentioned by Bailey. The clarity and reliability of Bailey’s recollections are even more remarkable considering that he wrote the memoir during his late seventies.