The War Between the States on the Southern Border

The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846–1876 (Texas A&M University Press, $45), edited by Roseann Bacha-Garza, Christopher L. Miller and Russell K. Skowronek, is a scholarly set of essays covering the effects of the Civil War from the arrival of the first Union troops to the area (1846) to the end of Reconstruction (1876). Although few battles were fought in this part of Texas, the area was important for getting Southern products (such as cotton) out of the Confederate states and much-needed supplies in, thus avoiding the Union blockades by going through Mexico. And, of course, the final battle of the Civil War was fought in this area, the Battle of Palmito Ranch, over a month after Lee’s surrender.

—Jim Wilson is a retired Texas peace officer, a former sheriff and a lifelong student of Western history