During the Civil War, loyalties were divided in the Ozarks, particularly in the slave-holding Union state of Missouri. Nowhere was the notion of brother fighting against brother or neighbor against neighbor truer than it was in southwest Missouri and the Ozarks region. The divided loyalties gave rise to a vicious brand of guerrilla warfare that played itself out mostly as a series of raids and couter raids fueled by revenge and often characterized by atrocity. Personal and political resentments lingered long after 1865, and lawlessness continued to plague the region throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, as bitter feelings left over from the war prompted or contributed to feuds and other violent clashes. In the years immediately following the Civil War, the Ozarks were still very much a part of the West. What follows are stories of some of the more notorious incidents that happened in the Ozarks between the end of the Civil War and approximately 1950.

Wild Bill Hickok's Springfield shootout -- The rule of the regulators -- Murdered for preaching the Gospel? -- Troublous times in the Cherokee neutral lands -- The killin' Killians -- The bloody Benders of southeast Kansas -- The Younger brothers' Roscoe gun battle -- Hobbs Kerry and the Otterville train robbery -- Red hot rivals -- The day George Shepherd "killed" Jesse James -- Ozark Mountain justice -- Emma Molloy and the most sensational murder case in Greene County history -- Barry County's most shocking crime -- The Blalock-Fry gang of Southeast Kansas -- The Dalton gang's waterloo at Coffeyville -- Bill Doolin wasn't foolin' -- House of sport, house of murder -- Cora Hubbard and the Pineville bank robbery -- Henry Starr's Bentonville and Harrison bank robberies -- The Eureka Springs bank robbery -- Arkansas Tom -- When the Ma Barker gang terrorized the Ozarks -- Bloody day in Brookline -- The dark day Bonnie and Clyde terrorized Joplin -- Badman Bill Cook.