Murder and Mayhem: The War of Reconstruction in Texas

This well researched, well written history demonstrates the tragedy of failure to secure the peace following a war. This lesson must be kept in mind today.

On a number of levels, this is the most frightening of books. On the most factual of levels, the number of murders described is mind-numbing. The primary villains of the book each murdered around 200 men, women and children.Even more disturbing is the popularity these man-eaters enjoy. Their victims are too easily dismissed as ethnic outsiders, people who didn't count or should have escaped to another land.Finally, people living today in North Texas can recount hearing the man-eaters themselves bragging about their exploits, and they exhibit no revulsion. I mentioned the book to a long time resident of North Texas, in hopes of getting a 'it couldn't happen here' reaction. Instead, I got a wistful tale about a childhood encounter with the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.The book recounts a microcosm of the 'second civil war', the war which returned vanquished Dixie to the control of the antebellum slave-masters. Specifically, it tells of the struggle between the North Texas unionist Lewis Peacock and his slave-master neighbor, Bob Lee. Peacock wins the battle with Lee, but loses the war and his life. The details are chilling. Lewis Peacock is simply a man of principle and one has to wonder why he was so careless with his life. In short he foolishly fights the ethics of slavery. As Bob Lee put it, "I'll kill any [...] that won't tip his hat at me." Bob Lee and his pals (including John Wesley Hardin) go out of their way to perform this 'hat tipping' test, fulfilling his promise with stunning immediacy. Lee's threat carried the additional warning. Anyone interfering with his experiments in social order could expect to die. As Bob is quoted, speaking to a unionist he had just mortally wounded, "it's nothing personal, Bill". After pulverizing Lewis Peacock with 6 shotgun blasts at close range, the man-eaters leisurely visited the town under-taker and said 'Hello, Hello, in there! Parson Gent, you can go and dress the fowl. We've killed it." Additionally, there is the tale of a 16 year old killing a boyhood friend visiting to take his sister on a date. The old friend had unwisely turned unionist. In another tale, nephew murders uncle. The uncle had joined the posse that chased down Bob Lee. In his defence, the young man confided 'he drew first, but I was faster'.This is a must read for anyone who fancies they understand Dixie, and the wild, wild west.