The fights, official and not, along the Missouri-Kansas border were some of the bloodiest of the Civil War. Here, Mr. Gilmore sets the record straight by spotligthing the depredations and atrocities performed by men on both sides.

Uneasy union : the roots of the border war -- The view from across the border : the Missouri situation -- Confrontation in Kansas -- Political convulsion and war -- Smoldering war : attacks and reprisals in Kansas and Missouri -- Conflicting loyalties : the Civil War in Missouri -- Jayhawker invasion of western Missouri -- Nemesis : the emergence of Quantrill -- Trial by fire : the tempering of the guerrillas -- The guerrillas' identity, extermination, and trauma -- "Hell in their neck" : the guerrilla response -- Retribution : General Orders no. 11 and Quantrill's reply -- End game : Price's raid and the death of the guerrilla chiefs -- Reckoning.