Mr. Mann,

Excellent message. For awhile now I've been trying to understand why so many have a "love" of Quantrill. If one looks at works published on Civil War Missouri especially, the works on Quantrill and other guerillas far outweigh the works concerning conventional battles within the state and the history, both north and south, of the Missouri units. Guerilla warfare, in one form or another, has been around for centuries, yet this continual fascination with Quantrill and his like is almost disturbing. In my eyes, and this is not to place the Union side upon a pedastal for they committed crimes against humanity, Quantrill was no better than a thug and terrorist. His form of "querilla warfare" appears so similiar to the current insurgentcy in Iraq.

With the plethora of works on Quantrill and his like, it is time for people to start telling the story of the Union Missouri troops, especially the MSM, the Kansas units, what about a history of Shelby's Iron Brigade or the Missouri infantry regiments(CSA) at Prairie Grove, Helenea, Mansfield and Jenkins Ferry?