Guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War

Guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War followed

the same general patterns of irregular warfare conducted
in 19th century Europe. Structurally, they can be divided
into three dierent types of operationsthe so-called
'Peoples War', 'partisan warfare', and 'raiding warfare'.
Each has distinct characteristics that were common practice during the Civil War years (18611865).

emy lines. The 1862 Partisan Ranger Act passed by the

Confederate Congress authorized the formation of these
units and gave them legitimacy, which placed them in
a dierent category than the common 'bushwhacker' or
'guerrilla'. John Singleton Mosby formed a partisan unit
that was very eective in tying down Federal forces behind Union lines in northern Virginia in the last two years
of the war. Groups such as Blazers Scouts, Whites Comanches, the Loudoun Rangers, McNeills Rangers, and
other similar forces at times served in the formal armies,
but often were loosely organized and operated more as
partisans than as cavalry, especially early in the war.

Types of guerrilla warfare

The concept of a 'Peoples war,' rst described by von

Clausewitz in his classic treatise On War, was the closest example of a mass guerrilla movement in the era. In
general during the Civil War, this type of irregular warfare was conducted in the hinterland of the Border States
(Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and northwestern Virginia / West Virginia). It was marked by a vicious neighbor-against-neighbor quality as other grudges
got settled. It was frequent for residents of one part of a
single county to take up arms against their counterparts in
the rest of the vicinity. Bushwhacking, murder, assault,
and terrorism were characteristics of this kind of ghting. Few participants wore uniforms or were formally
mustered into the actual armies. In many cases, it was
civilian against civilian, or civilian against opposing enemy troops.

Morgans Raiders enter Washington, Ohio

One such example was the opposing irregular forces operating in Missouri and northern Arkansas from 1862
to 1865, most of which were pro-Confederate or proUnion in name only. They preyed on civilians and isolated military forces of both sides with little regard for
politics. From these semi-organized guerrillas, several
groups formed and were given some measure of legitimacy by their governments. Quantrills Raiders, who terrorized pro-Union civilians and fought Federal troops in
large areas of Missouri and Kansas, was one such unit.
Another notorious unit, with debatable ties to the Confederate military, was led by Champ Ferguson along the
Kentucky-Tennessee border. Ferguson became one of
the few gures of the Confederate cause to be executed
after the war. Dozens of other small, localized bands terrorized the countryside throughout the border region during the war, bringing total war to the area that lasted until
the end of the Civil War and, in some areas, beyond.

Lastly, deep raids by conventional cavalry forces were

often considered 'irregular' in nature. The Partisan
Brigades of Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Hunt Morgan operated as part of the cavalry forces of the Confederate Army of Tennessee in 1862 and 1863. They
were given specic missions to destroy logistical hubs,
railroad bridges, and other strategic targets to support
the greater mission of the Army of Tennessee. Morgan
led raids into Kentucky as well. In his last raid, he violated orders by going across the Ohio River and raiding
in Ohio and Indiana as well, as he wanted to bring the
war to the northern states. This long raid diverted thousands of Union troops. He captured and paroled nearly
6,000 troops, destroyed bridges and fortications, and ran
o livestock. By mid-1863, Morgans Raiders had been
mostly destroyed in the late days of the Great Raid of
1863.

Partisan warfare, in contrast, more closely resembled

commando operations of the 20th century. Partisans
were small units of conventional forces, controlled and
organized by a military force for operations behind en-

Some of his followers continued under their own direction, such as M. Jerome Clarke, who kept on with raids
in Kentucky. The Confederacy conducted few deep cavalry raids in the latter years of the war, mostly because
1

7 FURTHER READING

of the losses in experienced horsemen and the oensive

operations of the Union army. Federal cavalry conducted
several successful raids during the war but in general used
their cavalry forces in a more conventional role. A good
exception was the 1863 Griersons Raid, which did much
to set the stage for General Ulysses S. Grant's victory during the Vicksburg Campaign.

4 Notable Civil War guerrillas,

partisans,
jayhawkers,
and
rangers
William Quantrill
CSA
William T. Anderson
CSA

Union countermeasures against

the Confederate guerrillas

Cole Younger
CSA
M. Jerome Clarke, aka "Sue Mundy"
CSA

James H. Lane
Federal counter-guerrilla operations were successful in
USA
reducing the impact of Confederate guerrilla warfare. In
Arkansas, Federal forces used a wide variety of strategies
John Mobberly
to defeat irregulars. These included the use of Arkansas
CSA
Unionist forces as anti-guerrilla troops, the use of riverine
John S. Mosby
forces such as gunboats to control the waterways, and the
CSA
provost marshal's military law enforcement system to spy
on suspected guerrillas and to imprison those captured.
Stovepipe Johnson
Against Confederate raiders, the Federal army developed
CSA
an eective cavalry themselves and reinforced that system by numerous blockhouses and fortication to defend
Other notable bushwhackers, jahawkers, and guerrillas
strategic targets.
of the Civil War included Frank James, Jesse James,
However, Federal attempts to defeat Mosbys Partisan Tinker Dave Beaty,[1] Archie Clement, Silas M. GorRangers fell short of success because of Mosbys use of don, Champ Ferguson, Charles R. Jennison, James Montvery small units (1015 men) operating in areas con- gomery, Joseph C. Porter, and George M. Todd.
sidered friendly to the Rebel cause. Another regiment
known as the Thomas Legion, consisting of white and
anti-Union Cherokee Indians, morphed into a guerrilla
5 See also
force and continued ghting in the remote mountain
back-country of western North Carolina for a month after
Bushwhackers - (Confederate)
Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.
That unit was never completely suppressed by Union
Jayhawkers - (Union)
forces, but voluntarily ceased hostilities after capturing
Partisan rangers - (Confederate)
the town of Waynesville, North Carolina, on May 10,
1865.

6 References
3

Prolonging the war through

guerrilla action

In the late 20th century, several historians focused on the

Confederate governments decision to not use guerrilla
warfare to prolong the war. Near the end of the war, there
were those in the administration who advocated continuing the southern ght as a guerrilla conict. These eorts
were opposed by Confederate generals such as Lee who
ultimately believed that surrender and reconciliation were
the best options for the war-ravaged South.

[1] Bryant, Lloyd D. David Tinker Dave Beaty - (L2).

History of Fentress County, Tennessee. The Fentress
County Historical Society.

7 Further reading
Beckett, Ian Frederick William. Encyclopedia of
guerrilla warfare (ABC-Clio, 1999)
Beilein Jr., Joseph M., and Matthew C. Hulbert, eds.
The Civil War Guerrilla: Unfolding the Black Flag in
History, Memory, and Myth (Lexington: University
Press of Kentucky, 2015) 243 pp

3
Browning, Judkin. Shifting Loyalties: The Union
Occupation of Eastern North Carolina (Univ of
North Carolina Press, 2011)
Fellman, Michael. Inside War: The Guerrilla Conict in Missouri During the American Civil War (Oxford University Press, 1989)
Gallagher, Gary W. Disaection, Persistence, and
Nation: Some Directions in Recent Scholarship on
the Confederacy. Civil War History 55#3 (2009)
pp: 329-353.
Grant, Meredith Anne. Internal Dissent: East
Tennessees Civil War, 1849-1865. (thesis 2008).
online
Mackey, Robert R. The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861-1865 (University of
Oklahoma Press, 2014 reprint)
Mountcastle, Clay. Punitive War: Confederate
Guerrillas and Union Reprisals (University Press of
Kansas, 2009)
Nichols, Bruce, Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War Missouri, McFarland & Co. Inc., 2006. ISBN 0-78642733-7.
Sutherland, Daniel E. A Savage Conict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War
(Univ of North Carolina Press, 2009)
Williams, David. Bitterly Divided: The Souths Inner
Civil War (The New Press, 2010)

7.1

Primary sources

U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A

Compilation of the Ocial Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies, 70 volumes in 4 series. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing
Oce, 1880-1901.
Lowell Hayes Harrison, James c. Klotter, A New
History of Kentucky, Lexington, KY: University
Press of Kentucky, 1997

External links
Guerilla Warfare in Kentucky Article by Civil
War historian/author Bryan S. Bush

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