Russell -- As you know, there are some people who for some reason are bothered by the fact that significant numbers of Arkansans volunteered for United States service during the Civil War. They have tried to minimize the issue by claiming that those men were forced into service against their will. Your book clearly summarizes what serious students of the war know from various records -- that secession was not universally endorsed, that there was a strong undercurrent of loyalty to the United States. Far from being forced at the point of a bayonet to join the Union army, those men had to overcome many obstacles and work hard to organize their regiment. Many of those men had been, in fact, the targets of not-so-subtle Confederate conscription efforts.

Whether or not we agree with the side they chose, your book accurately documents the difficulty they faced in making that choice, and the idealism that many of them based that choice on.

I hope we'll see more of your research in the future.