Marauding outlaws, or violent rebels still bent on fighting the Civil War? For decades, the so-called "Taylor-Sutton feud" has been seen as a bloody vendetta between two opposing gangs of Texas gunfighters. However, historian James M. Smallwood here shows that what seemed to be random lawlessness can be interpreted as a pattern of rebellion by a loose confederation of desperadoes who found common cause in their hatred of the Reconstruction government in Texas. Between the 1850s and 1880, almost 200 men rode at one time or ...
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Marauding outlaws, or violent rebels still bent on fighting the Civil War? For decades, the so-called "Taylor-Sutton feud" has been seen as a bloody vendetta between two opposing gangs of Texas gunfighters. However, historian James M. Smallwood here shows that what seemed to be random lawlessness can be interpreted as a pattern of rebellion by a loose confederation of desperadoes who found common cause in their hatred of the Reconstruction government in Texas. Between the 1850s and 1880, almost 200 men rode at one time or another with Creed Taylor and his family through a forty-five-county area of Texas, stealing and killing almost at will, despite heated and often violent opposition from pro-Union law enforcement officials, often led by William Sutton. From 1871 until his eventual arrest, notorious outlaw John Wesley Hardin served as enforcer for the Taylors. In 1874 in the streets of Comanche, Texas, on his twenty-first birthday, Hardin and two other members of the Taylor ring gunned down Brown County Deputy Charlie Webb. This cold-blooded killing--one among many--marked the beginning of the end for the Taylor ring, and Hardin eventually went to the penitentiary as a result. The Feud That Wasn't reinforces the interpretation that Reconstruction was actually just a continuation of the Civil War in another guise, a thesis Smallwood has advanced in other books and articles. He chronicles in vivid detail the cattle rustling, horse thieving, killing sprees, and attacks on law officials perpetrated by the loosely knit Taylor ring, drawing a composite picture of a group of anti-Reconstruction hoodlums who at various times banded together for criminal purposes. Western historians and those interested in gunfighters and lawmen will heartily enjoy this colorful and meticulously researched narrative.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 1603440178. First edition. Hard cover published by Texas A&M Univ. Press in 2008. Red covers with gilt lettering on spine. Corners of covers are bumped some. Book is in very good condition. Dust jacket has some wear at top of spine and is in very good condition. Large 8vo, 229 pages, 1.2 lb.; Volume 15; Large 8vo 9"-10" tall; 229 pages.
this bloody post war feud was seen by everybody involved as a feud; the fact that one side was frequently supported by a government and its State Police does not change that much. That state government was in control because of federal fiat and the disenfranchisement of much of the male population. That government was tossed as soon as that disenfranchisement ended. In the interim it enforced its will with a state police force the equal in violence to the pre war Rangers. But much of the violence was not committed by law enforcement but by men with real grievances on both sides. The author downplays this fact in order to support his thesis, which has some merit but is oversold. There is nothing new here in the way of facts, just a fine gloss of 21st century interpretation. 19th century Texas was always violent and post war had a lot of men with weapons and grievances and tons of what we now call PTSD. Perfect mixture for a bad feud
