Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-245) and index.

"My purpose in writing this book was twofold: first, to supply a long-standing deficiency in Kansas historical literature (which has concentrated almost exclusively on the pre-Civil War period) by describing the political, military, social and economic events and developments of the state's first four years -- an era even more dramatic, and hardly less significant, than the one which preceded it; and, secondly, to contribute to a better understanding of the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi West through a realistic presentation and analysis of the Kansas-Missouri border conflict, the operations of the Missouri guerrillas under Quantrill, and the Union and Confederate military campaigns in Missouri, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, and Kansas itself. My primary focus throughout the book is on Kansas, and if I have emphasized political and military matters, it is only because this period of Kansas history was essentially political and military in character"--Preface

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