MILITARY HISTORY OF THE SOUTHWEST TOC - 1990

                Military History of the Southwest

                  Volume 20 (Fall 1990), No. 2

"Who Was the Real Head of the Texas Freedmen's Bureau?: The Role of Brevet Colonel William H. Sinclair as Acting Assistant Inspector General," by William L. Richter, pp. 121-156

ABSTRACT: Sinclair served as Acting Assistant Inspector General of the Freedmen's Bureau from 1865-1868. His duties included overseeing the actions of the field officers of the Bureau, many of whom he replaced. Sinclair had several supervisors, but they rarely knew enough to make a difference, and they usually followed Sinclair's recommendations.
KEY WORDS: Reconstruction, Texas, Freedmen's Bureau, William H. Sinclair

"Was There a Massacre at Poison Spring?" by Anne J. Bailey, pp. 157-168

ABSTRACT: At the battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas, on 18 April 1864, black troops were brutally killed by Confederates. Soldiers from Arkansas, Texas, and especially Kansas took revenge on black soldiers from Missouri, killing them instead of taking them prisoner. The action never received official condemnation because it happened in remote Arkansas.
KEY WORDS: Civil War, Arkansas, black soldiers, massacre, Samuel Maxey

"An Experiment in Collective Security: The Union Army's use of Armed Colonies in Arkansas," by Diane Neal and Thomas W. Kremm, pp. 169-181

ABSTRACT: After the Union Army took Arkansas, most of the state was in ruins. The military commanders gathered the starving, destitute refugees into armed colonies, where they could raise crops without harassment from Confederates or bushwackers. Some commanders made joining the colonies mandatory, which led to hostility by the Arkansans, while other efforts met with success.
KEY WORDS: Civil War, Arkansas, refugees, colonies

"A Letter from the Mexican War," edited by Charles Bennett, pp. 182-195

ABSTRACT: Letter from Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearney, commander of the Army of the West, to his wife on 19 December 1846, recounting his health, military victories, and family news. He tells of the battle of San Pasqual and his march from Santa Fe to San Diego. He instructs her in family business matters.
KEY WORDS: Mexican War, California, Stephen Watts Kearney, San Pasqual

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