As the North celebrated the end of the Civil War, the people of the South, particularly of recently fallen Richmond, mourned. The South was about to enter a period of extreme turmoil reconstruction. The Union, though preserved, would not easily be healed. Starting with Lincoln's assassination and continuing up through the harsh realities of occupation through the summer of 1866, authors Thomas and Debra Goodrich trace the history of reconstruction in the south-the death, destruction, crime, starvation, exile, and anarchy that pervaded those grim years.

" A] thorough and comprehensive study of this tragic, almost forgotten episode of American history." History

"What Sherman did in Georgia and Sheridan in the Valley pales in comparison. This study truly shows the horrible cost inherent in any civil war." Civil War Courier

" A] well written and compelling account of an aspect of the Civil War which has not received sufficient attention." Southern Historian

"Compelling..." Publishers Weekly

" A] fast-paced.. .absorbing discourse... Black Flag is a highly recommended book that transports the reader to the towns and dusty highways of Kansas and Missouri during the Civil War." Kansas History

From 1861 to 1865, the region along the Missouri-Kansas border was the scene of unbelievable death and destruction. Thousands died, millions of dollars of property was lost, entire populations were violently uprooted. It was here also that some of the greatest atrocities in American history occurred. Yet in the great national tragedy of the Civil War, this savage warfare has seemed a minor episode.
Drawing from a wide array of contemporary documents including diaries, letters, and first-hand newspaper accounts Thomas Goodrich presents a hair-raising report of life in this merciless guerrilla war. Filled with dramatic detail, Black Flag reveals war at its very worst, told in the words of the participants themselves. Bushwhackers and Jayhawkers, soldiers and civilians, scouts, spies, runaway slaves, the generals and the guerrillas all step forward to tell of their terrifying ordeals.
From the shocking, sensational massacres at Lawrence, Baxter Springs, and Centralia to the silent terror of a woman at home alone in the Aburnt district, Black Flag is a horrifying day-by-day account of life, death and war, told with unforgettable immediacy."

Denise Amber Lee was an anomaly. Married at 18, a mother at 19, a settled-in housewife at 20. At a time and in a place where many Florida females her age were into tattoos, drinking and spring breaks, Denise had invested in her husband, her children, her home. The pride of her father, Sergeant Rick Goff of the local sheriff's department, Denise was the daughter, wife and mother we all dream of: Thoughtful, intelligent, kind, caring. Then one afternoon in 2008 a 36-year-old stranger walked through Denise's door and everything ended. There was no warning, no hint, no clue; it was, very simply, a random act of evil. . . . Denise did everything right. She fought valiantly. She never once gave up. She did everything humanly possible to save herself. . . . But an ill wind was blowing over Toledo Blade that fateful day and a perfect storm of mistakes conspired against the young woman. What followed would shock a nation.

"While waves of laughter echoed through the theater, James Ferguson kept his eyes focused on Abraham Lincoln. Although the president joined the crowd with a hearty laugh, his interest seemingly lay more with someone below. With his right elbow resting on the arm of his chair and his chin lying carelessly on his hand, Lincoln parted one of the flags nearby that he might see better.

"As the laughter subsided, Harry Hawk stood on the stage alone with his back to the presidential box. Before he could utter another word, a sharp crack sounded. As the noise echoed throughout the otherwise silent theater, many thought that it was part of the play. But just as quickly, most knew it was not." from Chapter Twelve

"Among the hundreds of books published about the assassination of our 16th president, this is an exceptional volume.... It captures] a you-are-there feeling...." Frank J. Williams, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, founding Chair of The Lincoln Forum, and member of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

It was one of the most tragic events in American history: The famous president, beloved by many, reviled by some, murdered while viewing a play at Ford s Theater in Washington. The frantic search for the perpetrators. The nation in mourning. The solemn funeral train. The conspirators brought to justice. Coming just days after the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln has become etched in the national consciousness like few other events. The president who had steered the nation through its bloodiest crisis was cut down before the end, just as it appeared that the bloodshed was over. The story has been told many times, but rarely with the immediacy of The Darkest Dawn. Thomas Goodrich brings to his narrative the care of the historian and the flair of the fiction writer. The result is a gripping account, filled with detail and as fresh as today s news."

Long before the secession crisis at Fort Sumter ignited the War between the States, men fought and died on the prairies of Kansas over the incendiary issue of slavery. "War to the knife and knife to the hilt," cried the Atchison Squatter Sovereign. In 1854 a shooting war developed between proslavery men from Missouri and free-staters in Kansas over control of the territory. The prize was whether Kansas would become a slave or a free state when admitted to the Union, a question that could decide the balance of power in Washington. War to the Knife is an absorbing account of a bloody episode in our nation's past, told in the unforgettable words of the men and women involved: Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, Sara Robinson, Jeb Stuart, Abraham Lincoln, William F. Cody, and John Brown-hailed as a prophet by some, denounced as a madman by others. Because the conflict soon spread east, events in "Bleeding Kansas" have largely been forgotten. But as historian Thomas Goodrich reveals in this compelling saga, what America's "first civil war" lacked in numbers, it more than made up for in ferocity.

Marching armies, cavalry raids, guerilla warfare, massacres, towns and farms in flames-the American Civil War, 1861-1865? No-Kansas, 1854-1861. Before there was Bull Run or Gettysburg, there was Black Jack and Osawatomie. Long before events at Fort Sumter ignited the War Between the States, men fought and died on the Prairies of Kansas over the incendiary issue of slavery. "War to the knife and knife to the hilt," cried the Atchison Squatter Sovereign. " Let the watchword be 'Extermination, total and complete.'" In 1854 a shooting war developed between proslavery men in Missouri and free-staters in Kansas over control of the territory. The prize was whether it would be a slave or free state when admitted to the Union, a question that could decide the balance of power in Washington. Told in the unforgettable words of the men and women involved, War to the Knife is an absorbing account of a bloody episode soon spread east, events in "Bleeding Kansas" have largely been forgotten. But as historian Thomas Goodric