Moss Bluff Rebel: A Texas Pioneer in the Civil War (Volume 18) (Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Commerce) - Hardcover

Caudill, Philip Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1603440895 ISBN 13: 9781603440899

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press, 2009

Synopsis

So wrote Texas pioneer cattle drover William Berry Duncan in his March 1862 diary entry, the day he joined the Confederate Army. Despite his misgivings, Duncan left his prosperous business to lead neighbors and fellow volunteers as commanding officer of cavalry Company F of Spaight’s Eleventh Battalion that later became the 21st Texas Infantry in America’s Civil War.

Philip Caudill’s rich account, drawn from Duncan’s previously untapped diaries and letters written by candlelight on the Gulf Coast cattle trail to New Orleans, in Confederate Army camps, and on his southeast Texas farm after the war, reveals the personable Duncan as a man of steadfast integrity and extraordinary leadership. After the war, he returned to his home in Liberty County and battled for survival on the chaotic Reconstruction-era Texas frontier.

Supplemented by archival records and complementary accounts, Moss Bluff Rebel paints a picture of everyday life for the Anglo-Texans who settled the Mexican land grants in the early nineteenth century and subsequently became citizens of the proudly independent Texas Republic. The carefully crafted narrative goes on to reveal the wartime emotions of a reluctant Confederate officer and his postwar struggles to reinvent the lifestyle he knew before the war, a way of life he sensed was lost forever.

Moss Bluff Rebel will appeal to history lovers of all ages attracted to the drama of the Civil War period and the men and women who shaped the Texas frontier.

About this title

About the Author:

PHILIP CAUDILL is an adjunct professor of Texas history at Lone Star College – Montgomery in The Woodlands, Texas.  He holds a Master of Arts in History from Sam Houston State University as well as Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma, which has named him a Distinguished Alumnus of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Review:

"In Moss Bluff Rebel, Philip Caudill skillfully traces the life and times of William Berry Duncan, Liberty county clerk, sheriff, cattleman, entrepreneur and Confederate soldier. Fully utilizing primary sources, especially Duncan's diaries, and secondary accounts, Caudill describes Duncan's experiences as a captain in Spaight's battalion in Civil War action in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. The author is a diligent researcher, forceful writer - and coincidentally, an entertaining public speaker - and readers will enjoy this spirited narrative about  a reluctant Rebel in the Civil War and Reconstruction." — Ralph A. Wooster, Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus, Lamar University (Ralph A. Wooster Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus, Lamar University)

". . . Philip Caudill, has. . . presented a well-written and fascinating picture of life in southeast Texas from the perspective of a cavalry company commander. . . Caudill makes you feel like you know Duncan as well as a colleague." — David White, President, Austin Civil War Round Table (David White, President Austin Civil War Round Table)

". . . (William) Duncan was the type of everyman who keeps society moving and improving. Moss Bluff Rebel depicts an ordinary man in extraordinary times. The book is valuable because of that. . . Caudill lets readers view the life of the average Texan of the Civil War. . . and experience everyday wartime Texas, and view ordinary people picking up the pieces of their lives afterward." — Mark Lardas, Galveston County Daily News (Mark Lardas Galveston County Daily News)

". . . Details of what was happening in Texas during and after the Civil War make this book much more valuable than most biographies. . . Caudill has presented well-documented fact that reads as easily as a historical or biographical novel." — Marie Beth Jones, The Facts, Brazoria County (Marie Beth Jones The Facts, Brazoria County)

"Moss Bluff Rebel is an excellent social history with a particular audience in mind. The reader comes away with a genuine understanding of what it was like to survive on the frontier through floods and hard economic times. This work is an extremely detailed biography of a Confederate soldier and the society in which he lived. The genealogist and anyone interest in the economics of the Southwest will probably find this book very worthwhile. I came away from it with a better understanding of the frontier experience."--John Michael Priest, Blue and Gray Magazine

(John Michael Priest Blue & Gray Magazine 2011-12-02)

"In this well-crafted biography, Phil Caudill paints a vivid portrait of William Berry Duncan's fascinating life. Moreover, he gives us one of the best glimpses yet of life on the Civil War home front in Texas." — Dr. Gregg Cantrell, Lowe Chair in Texas History, Texas Christian University

(Dr. Gregg Cantrell, Lowe Chair in Texas History, Texas Christian University)

About this edition

• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1603440895
• ISBN 13: 9781603440899
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232