Readers intrigued by the Civil War journal of Mary Adelia Byers of Batesville can read many other books about the era in Arkansas.
Mark Christ of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program recommends and comments on the following:
Anne J. Bailey and Daniel E. Sutherland, editors, Civil War Arkansas: Beyond Battles and Leaders. (University of Arkansas Press). “A great anthology of articles that cover everything from gristmill destruction to racial atrocities.”
Thomas A. DeBlack, With Fire and Sword: Arkansas, 1861-1874. (University of Arkansas Press). “The best single-volume treatment of the Civil War in Arkansas and the political turmoil that followed.If you don’t read anything else, read this book.”
Robert L. Kerby, Kirby Smith’s Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863-1865. (University of Alabama Press). “Still the gold standard for an overview of the war west of the Mississippi.”
George Lankford, editor, Bearing Witness: Memories of Arkansas Slavery: Narratives from the 1930s WPA Collections. (University of Arkansas Press). “A compilation that gives voice to the thousands of Arkansans who were freed from bondage by the Civil War.”
Robert R. Mackey, The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861-1865. (University of Oklahoma Press). “The section on guerrilla warfare in Arkansas is the best out there.”
Bobby Roberts and Carl Moneyhon, Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Arkansas in the Civil War. (University of Arkansas Press, 1987). “What did the Civil War in Arkansas look like? You can find out here, in a book by two of the greats.”
William Shea and Earl Hess, Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West. (University of North Carolina Press) and William Shea, Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign.(University of North Carolina Press). “These two volumes are the definitive works on the battles that bookended and defined the Civil War in 1862.”
Christ says an extensive bibliography of other works can be found at tinyurl.com/l7ybck4.
Style, Pages 50 on 02/02/2014