Walter Brian Cisco is a lifelong student of the War Between the States. During the past two decades, he has been doing research and writing on topics related to this violent time period in United States history. His articles on this topic have appeared in magazines and journals such as Confederate Veteran, Civil War, and Southern Partisan. His first book, States Rights Gist: A South Carolina General of the Civil War, a biography of the little-known general, was a 1992 selection of the History Book Club. He is also the author of Taking a Stand: Portraits from the Southern Secession Movement, Henry Timrod: A Biography, and Wade Hampton: Confederate Warrior, Conservative Statesman. His book Wade Hampton was also a selection of the History Book Club and is considered the definitive biography of this military and political leader. Mr. Cisco served in the U.S. Army for three years and saw action in Vietnam. He is the recipient of the Army Commendation Medal and was a captain in the South Carolina State Guard. He lives in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and has two children and two grandchildren.

 

WAR CRIMES AGAINST SOUTHERN CIVILIANS

by Walter Brian Cisco

The sobering and brutal consequences of the Civil War off the battlefield are revealed in this examination of atrocities committed against civilians. Rationale for the Union’s “hard war” and the political ramifications of such a war set the foundation for Walter Cisco’s enlightening research. Styled the “Black Flag” campaign, the hard line was agreed to by Lincoln in a council with his generals in 1864, when he gave permission to wage unlimited war against civilians, including women and children.

 

In a series of concise and compelling chapters, Cisco chronicles the “St. Louis Massacre,” where Federal authorities proceeded to impose a reign of terror and dictatorship in Missouri. He tells of the events leading to, and the suffering caused by, the Federal decree that forced twenty thousand Missouri civilians into exile. The arrests of civilians, the suppression of civil liberties, theft, and murder to “restore the Union” in Tennessee are also examined.

Women and children, black and white, were robbed, brutalized, and left homeless in Sherman’s infamous raid through Georgia. Torture and rape were not uncommon. In South Carolina, homes, farms, churches, and whole towns disappeared in flames. Civilians received no mercy at the hands of the Union invaders. Earrings were ripped from bleeding ears, graves were robbed, and towns were pillaged. Wherever Federal troops encountered Southern Blacks, whether free or slave, they were robbed, brutalized, belittled, kidnapped, threatened, tortured, and sometimes raped or killed by their blue-clad “liberators.”

Carefully researched, largely from primary sources, the book includes notes and illustrations. This untold story will interest anyone exploring an alternative perspective on this period in American history.

Hardcover, 978-1-58980-594-1, $24.95**

STATES RIGHTS GIST
A South Carolina General of the Civil War
By Walter Brian Cisco
208 pp. 6 x 9 6 photos 12 illus. 4 maps
Appendixes Notes Biblio. Index
ISBN: 1-58980-594-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-58980-594-1
Hardcover: $24.95**

"An excellent biography of a lesser-known Confederate general. . . . This book gives us an interesting overview of how an untrained politician becomes an effective military leader.”
-Library Journal

“Cisco’s States Rights Gist is a perfect match for the man, who has deserved a good biography and has one at last.”
—William C. Davis, author of
Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour

States Rights Gist was named in honor of his father’s strong political beliefs. The Southern states, Gist’s father believed, had the right to secede from the United States and become their own nation. Influenced by his father’s passion, States Rights’ career as a supporter of the Confederacy began.

Gist attended Harvard Law School and worked worked as a lawyer in South Carolina. Although he had no military training, he joined the state militia as tensions rose between the North and South. Gist was present as the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter. He prepared new recruits for battle and commanded military forces, proving himself a skilled strategist and leader.

Gist became a general when he was only twenty-four years old, and he was placed in command of James Island and Dependencies, an area key to Charleston’s defenses. It was after the Battle of Atlanta that Gist assumed command of a brigade under Major General John Brown. He was killed in the fateful charge at Franklin, Tennessee

 

 

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