For three years during the American Civil War an oddly assorted brigade of Texans served the Confederacy in the Trans-Mississippi theater and then; for one hundred years; disappeared from history. Some five thousand men; raised largely from the communities and farmsteads of North Texas; served in cavalry and infantry units; and were commanded for part of that time by the only foreign general of the Confederacy; Prince Camille de Polignac.This group of soldiers fought in numerous skirmishes from Missouri to Louisiana. They endured a fearfully cold winter march through Indian Territory; were bombarded by gunboat shells along the banks of the Mississippi; Ouachita; and Red Rivers; and engaged in a stand-up; no-quarter fight along Yellow Bayou. By the summer of 1864; the brigade was engaged in little fighting; and in 1865 returned to Texas; where it was disbanded in May. More than a hundred men had been killed on the battlefields; and many others had died of disease and cold. "Our trail;" wrote one brigade member; "was a long graveyard."First published in 1964 by the Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association; Alwyn Barr's study of this previously little-known brigade not only detailed an aspect of the less-studied war in the West; but also showed in stark; first-person accounts the toll of war at the level of the common fighting man.Available again after only a limited print run in its first edition; this little masterpiece of Civil War history now includes a new preface by Barr that updates what is known of the brigade and its significance to the Trans-Mississippi campaign.
#4510772 in Books 1989-09-30Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.24 x .76 x 6.33l; .0 #File Name: 0887382886256 pages
Review
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Diet History; Theory SmorgasbordBy Tron HontoI made the mistake of reading this book directly after reading W. Madelung's impressive work on the succession to Muhammad. In short; Madelung's work far surpasses this one.Granted; however; this work does not aim to do what Madelung sought to do. Dabashi; here; focuses on Weberian theory of *charisma* and its subsequent routinization. As such; the aim of author is to 1) expand upon Weberian theory of authority and 2) revise it insofar as the specificities of the period can inform and mature this theory. In this; he more or less succeeds; and this has brought his work broader appeal outside the field of Islamics than; for example; Madelung's source-heavy study. To summarize the book; three trends of authority appeared after Muhammad's death as a way of continuing his authority that would profoundly impact and guide the currents of Islamic history thereafter. These three are the Sunni (institutional); Shi'a (individual); and Khawarij (negational).Though the theory is more or less solid; the approach is methodologically sloppy-movements appear to at times to be given more cohesion and definition than they really had. Anachronisms abound. Mostly; these appear throughout as a tendency that comes all too close to a picture wherein these three currents of authority formed instantaneously after Muhammad's death. Much of this also arises from the fact that Dabashi's work is also quit weak when in comes to sources and citing evidence to support many of the sweeping generalizations that are made concerning the period in question.This work will most likely be more enjoyed by the sociologist of religion than the historian.
