Iain Flood

• School of History, Classics, and Archaeology, Newcastle University
• Email: i.a.flood@ncl.ac.uk

The westward trend of American Civil War historiography, away from the battlefields and boardrooms of the east, has resulted in an expanding scholarly discourse surrounding the irregular war in the border states. Despite this shift, however, the victims of guerrilla activity have been largely overlooked, often treated as passives, merely evidence of the actions of notable fighters such as ‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson. My research addresses this by asking how victims of guerrilla warfare in Missouri responded to violence in terms of the social and emotional effects that this had on families, particularly the masculine identities of those operating as heads of households. In doing so, it will be shown that many ordinary men and women exhibited surprising resilience in meeting the challenges of irregular conflict. Whether attempting to remain at home, or fleeing as refugees, emotionally supportive kinship networks struggled to promote an illusion of antebellum normality even as their world was ripped apart. This important research not only addresses scholarly imperatives, but also casts fresh light on the experience of civilians in war at a time of increasing worldwide concern regarding this issue.

Supervisory Team: Prof. Susan-Mary Grant, History (Newcastle), Dr Bruce Baker, History (Newcastle), Prof. Silvana Siddali, History (St Louis University, Missouri).

Start Date: October 2018