The most famous of the partisan rangers was John Singleton Mosby. The partisan rangers were raised by individuals and acted as irregular warriors, but were closely linked to the field armies and officeres appointed by the legal government. The next type of irregular warrior was the partisan ranger. Today we know these formations as bushwhackers or marauders. The Civil War guerilla was defined as a band of individuals fighting without direct support or leadership of the military, or leadership of the Confederate Army. Today guerilla warfare is most associated with national uprisings, but in this area that was a totally foreign concept. The first and least organized, and one most open to sheer banditry, was guerilla warfare. LTC Mackey notes that irregular warfare can be broken down into three types. The author opens the book with an historical review of the theory and practices that were in use with irregular warfare at the time of the American Civil War. LTC (lieutenant colonel) Mackey not only applies a modern appreciation of the warfare he examines, but also places it in the proper historical context. The types of irregular warfare have always been misunderstood and often ignored in the analytical writings of the war. One of the nastier aspects was the irregular war conducted by the Confederates States, and the responses by the Federal Government. This was true in many instances, but like all wars, the American Civil War could be as brutish for the combatants as any modern conflict. Many people consider the American Civil War to be the last true romantic war where soldiers on both sides fought with gallantry and extended every courtesy to his opponent and the civilians caught up in the war. Oklahoma University Press, Hardcover, 2004 The UNcivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861 – 1865 The UNcivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861 – 1865 – Book Review By Richard N Story

The Uncivil War by Robert R. Mackey