The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 495

Book Reviews

a special expertise to his task. That same quality, however, may disap-
point some who expect insights into the problem of how the legend
emerged from the characters depicted here. Occasionally the legend
even peeks through in this book, too. Nor should praise imply that the
reviewer agrees with all of the author's conclusions, value judgments,
and interpretations. There are a few errors in fact that the devotee of
western law and order will doubtless recognize. But these things should
not obscure the positive contribution which this book makes.
Unfortunately, the University of Oklahoma Press has succumbed to
the procedure of confining footnotes to the back of the book, and the
selection of photographs leaves much to be desired. But even these edi-
torial shortcomings fail to blemish the author's effort.
Abraham Baldwin College GARY L. ROBERTS
Kirby Smith's Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863-1865.
By Robert L. Kerby. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972.
Pp. 529. Notes, bibliography, maps, index. $12.95.)
Lively writing combined with sharp analysis makes Kirby Smith's
Confederacy a book worth reading. Even a decade after the peak of
interest caused by the centennial celebration, Robert L. Kerby has
authored a work which will attract wide attention as a significant study
of the trans-Mississippi during the Civil War. Kerby has obviously spent
much time in regional manuscript collections and libraries and has done
very thorough research in preparation for his book.
Basically the work is a chronological study, but it is much more than
a military history. In spite of its sub-title, The Trans-Mississippi South,
1863-1865, the first two chapters-approximately one-fifth of the book-
are given to the years 1861-1863. Kerby lays a very careful groundwork
for a study of the war by analyzing the nature of the trans-Mississippi
Confederacy, with due attention to the peripheral areas of Missouri,
Indian Territory, and the Territory of Arizona as well as the central
concern of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. The economic picture gets
almost as much attention as military and political history, and the result
is a balanced account.
This book is not a biography, but Kerby centers his study around
the principal military figure of the trans-Mississippi Confederacy,

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