I am glad for the tip about the Rootsweb e-mail. That way I won't keep pining away waiting for a reply.

If there is one thing I am deadly serious about, it's history. I live it, breathe it and love it. And I most certainly DO NOT expect or think that you should be ashamed of your ancestors. Just as I am not ashamed of mine. (Heck, heard of the Pequot War in New England? My ancestor started it. Got an entire tribe of Native Americans wiped off the face of the earth. I can't change my relatives.... I just deal with them.) No man who became a guerrilla on either side of the Civil War was a coward. The very nature of the warfare ensured that only a man willing to risk his life became involved in it. But there were men on both sides of the issue who were not very nice. I immediately think of Charles R. Jennison, James Montgomery, James Lane and William Clarke Quantrill. Those men were often using "Bleeding Kansas" and the border warfare during the Civil War for their own dark purposes.

I can't think of any state that suffered more during the Civil War than Missouri. No matter what a man's personal beliefs, virtually no one was safe from the carnage that surrounded guerrilla warfare. And as is often the case, it was usually the innocent who suffered the most.

I started researching the life of Jack Bridges due to his years on the Kansas frontier after the war. But you can't understand a man's life without seeing the complete picture. I totally understand that "Red Leg" is a six-letter curse word when it comes to Yankee guerrillas. Perhaps even worse than "Jayhawker." But despite being a thief and perhaps even a killer, Bridges was never a coward. Nor were his opponents.

To understand Bridges I have to understand the times he lived in. The problem is the "divide" that exists even today. I am fairly well informed of the Kansas side of the warfare. But where I am weak is the Missouri side. Not from want of desire to understand on my part, but simply because of lack of access to the other side.

But internet sites such as this one are breaking down the "divide." And this is to the good of all historians and those who want the truth.

Last night I found a website that gave me free access to John N. Edwards book, Noted Guerrillas. This book has probably been on your bookshelf for decades. But last night was the first time that I had managed to see a copy. Talk about a complete opposite to William E. Connelley's book! I've had John McCorkle's book for some time, and I have Harrison Trow's book on order. But are there any other "standard" books on the "Missouri Partisan Rangers" concerning Lawrence and what happened to Bledsoe that I should get hold of?

Jim
JAMES D. DREES