The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders

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Summary: The Bloody Conflict in Kansas-Missouri
Review: With nealy 620,000 combat deaths, the American Civil War has proven the single bloodiest conflict ever engaged in by U.S. forces. Names like Antietam, Gettysburg, and Appomattox still make many Americans cringe with thoughts of bullets, sabres, and grape shot tearing through ranks of steadily marching countrymen.

However, there was another smaller, beastly war occuring along the contested boarder region between Missouri and Kansas. Rarely was there a conflict between the massive armies of the C.S.A. and U.S.A. Rather it was a war of attrition waged by roving bands of maruaders who were less interested in ideology and more concerned with loot and plunder. Indeed, along the border raged a savage guerrilla war.

With the State of Kansas predomintly in support of the Federal Union, and the Missourians leaning towards Jeff Davis' Confederate States, the border was a tinderbox, and sparks were everywhere. Incidents of violence were common, and reprisal raids were bloody.

Leslie provides an excellent and informative book regarding not only the Missouri-Kansas border war, but one of the principal guerrila chieftains, William Clarke Quantrill. Q's band of raiders, which included such infamous names as Jesse and Frank James, Cole Younger, and the notorious "Bloody" Bill Anderson waged a war with few if any rules. Prisoners were executed with out remorse, cities and towns were burned to the ground, and civilians attempting the least resistance were gunned down, usually with one pistol ball to the head. Rather than being a rarity, Q's band was one of many roaming the countyside. The Unionists also maintained their guerrila fighters under the name of Jayhawkers who were equally ruthless as Quantrill; the difference being they were partial to the execution of Southern sympathizers.

Leslie follows the story of Q and the Kansas-Missouri war from its inception to its conclusion. He keeps his observations objective and provides a clear picture of both the C.S.A. and the U.S.A. His work is well researched and readable, and certainly leads readers to discover more about this unique, although bloody Americans.