Barton Myers

Critical Acclaim

“Contrary to popular perception, the American Civil War was not decided simply by a series of big conventional battles. From the very moment Union soldiers invaded any Confederate state, they faced the daily threat of irregular warfare. These multiple states of siege—and the steps the invaders took to break them—added extra layers of viciousness to a conflict whose full costs have yet to be calculated. The Guerrilla Hunters is a collection of incisive, field-changing essays that should deepen our appreciation for the true nature of America’s most studied and most misunderstood war.”—Gregory J. W. Urwin, editor, Campaigns and Commanders Series and former President of Society for Military History

“The Guerrilla Hunters asserts with authority that irregular warfare during the American Civil War must be studied alongside conventional battlefields to truly understand the outcome of that war. Established and rising scholars deliver the evidence, illuminating myriad factors of economic and political disruption that made unconventional warriors out of all manner of men in home-front wars complicated by the participation of women, children, and slaves.”—Victoria E. Bynum, author of The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War

“For too long, historians have viewed the Civil War’s partisan conflicts as little more than distractions from the larger clashes of the field armies. In The Guerrilla Hunters, Brian D. McKnight and Barton A. Myers challenge and overturn the notion that the irregular fights were sideshows to the main events. The authors have probed the wars within the larger Civil War to reveal the multi-faceted nature of this conflict. This superb collection of essays argues for a more complex and more nuanced picture of the Civil War. Historians and others will appreciate this book.”—Ricardo A. Herrera, School of Advanced Military Studies, US Army Command and General Staff College, and author of For Liberty and the Republic: The American Citizen as Soldier, 1775–1861