"All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell": The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison SpringMark K. Christ "Dogwood trees were in full bloom as Union General Frederick Steele led 8,500 soldiers out of Little Rock into the woodlands of southwest Arkansas. There, Steele planned to join another Union force before linking with another federal army in Louisiana. What Steele did not know was that the history about to be generated would be one of the darkest hours of American military and race-relations history. But on April 18, 1864, near Camden, Arkansas, black Union soldiers were slaughtered wholesale by Confederate troops. What actually happened during the campaign? What made the Confederate soldiers react so violently to the sight of former slaves in Union uniforms? Why were the usual rules of engagement ignored? What is yet to be learned from reconstructing this battle and its aftermath? Who wrote the "Poison Spring" letter, with its vivid detail and haunting candor? These questions, and others, are pondered by historians Frank Arey, Mark K. Christ, Thomas A. DeBlack, Carl H. Moneyhon, Ronnie A. Nichols, and Gregory J.W. Urwin in a riveting study of this horrific episode."-- Back cover. |
Contents
Introduction | 9 |
White Society and AfricanAmerican Soldiers | 31 |
The Changing Role of Blacks in the Civil War | 59 |
The First Kansas Colored at Honey Springs | 79 |
Who Wrote the Poison Spring Letter? | 99 |
About the Contributors | 139 |
Other editions - View all
"All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell": The Civil War, Race Relations, and the ... Mark K. Christ No preview available - 2003 |
"All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell": The Civil War, Race Relations, and the ... Mark K. Christ No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
20 July African descent American Civil War April 18 Arkadelphia Arkansas Historical artillery August battery Battle of Poison battlefield black soldiers black troops Bowles to William brigade Camden Expedition Captain captured Carolina Choctaw Civil Colonel Williams command Company Confederacy Confederate Armies Confederate line Confederate soldiers Cooper to William Dear DeBlack DeMorse Eighteenth Iowa enemy fight forage Fort Smith Frederick Steele Gregory J.W. Urwin Hearn History Honey Springs hundred Ibid Indian Jo Shelby John Bowles Judson Kansas Colored Kansas Colored Infantry Kansas Colored Volunteer Kansas Colored's killed letter Lieutenant Little Rock Louisiana Marmaduke Massacre master Maxey Maxey's miles Mississippi Missouri Negro North Official Records Old State House ordered plantation Poison Spring Rebel reported retreat Rugged and Sublime Second Kansas Colored Shelby shot slavery South Spence Family Steele's Sterling Price thousand Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry Union Army Union forces units University of Arkansas wagons Washington Telegraph white Southerners wounded wrote Yankees