"All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell": The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring

"Dogwood trees were in full bloom as Union General Frederick Steele led 8,500 soldiers out of Little Rock into the woodlands of southwest Arkansas. There, Steele planned to join another Union force before linking with another federal army in Louisiana. What Steele did not know was that the history about to be generated would be one of the darkest hours of American military and race-relations history. But on April 18, 1864, near Camden, Arkansas, black Union soldiers were slaughtered wholesale by Confederate troops. What actually happened during the campaign? What made the Confederate soldiers react so violently to the sight of former slaves in Union uniforms? Why were the usual rules of engagement ignored? What is yet to be learned from reconstructing this battle and its aftermath? Who wrote the "Poison Spring" letter, with its vivid detail and haunting candor? These questions, and others, are pondered by historians Frank Arey, Mark K. Christ, Thomas A. DeBlack, Carl H. Moneyhon, Ronnie A. Nichols, and Gregory J.W. Urwin in a riveting study of this horrific episode."-- Back cover.