Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28th Texas Cavalry, 1862-1865 by M. Jane JohanssonReview by: Bobby RobertsThe Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Winter, 1999), pp. 453-454Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40025518 .

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BOOK REVIEWS 453

notes. However, there are two things that are significantly more troubling about this collection. The first is the editors' extra efforts to demonstrate the legitimacy of the contributors, including themselves. Titles, affilia- tions, achievements, publications, and so forth for each of the contributors are given not just once-in the introduction-but also in a separate section at the back of the book (and for the editors, there is information in the flap copy as well). It may seem to readers that there is a bit too much protesting about the contributors' accomplishments, leading counterproductively to concerns about why such a degree of horn-tooting was necessary. A sec- ond frustration arises from what appears to be a rather careless job of edit- ing. To give just one example: in the flap copy, editor Catherine Clinton is identified as "the Douglas Southhall Freeman Professor of History at the University of Richmond"; in the introduction she is identified as "the Dou- blass Southhall Freeman Visiting Professor of History at the University of Richmond" (p. 6); and in the list of contributors she is identified as the "Jones Distinguished Visiting Professor of History at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina" (p. 175). Some would perhaps argue that such details are of minimal importance. My concern is that this sort of careless editing (combined with excessive horn-tooting) undermines the many real causes for celebration that a book of this sort seeks to under- score.

Elizabeth D. Leonard Colby College

Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28th Texas Cavalry, 1862-1865. By M. Jane Johansson (Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 197. Photographs, maps, tables, introduction, appendices, notes, bibliography, and index. $20.00, paper.)

In the spring of 1862, the 28th Texas Cavalry was one of several reg- iments in the Lone Star State that organized in response to the first Con- scription Act passed by the Confederacy. Many of the new soldiers were older and more likely to be married than were the men from east Texas who had earlier marched off to war, but otherwise there was little differ- ence between the two groups. On July 10, 1862, the regiment left Texas and eventually arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas, where, to the chagrin of many members, the unit was converted to infantry. Within weeks the men received another surprise when the leader of the regiment, Col. Horace Randal, relinquished direct command to assume control of an all-Texas

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454 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

brigade which did include the newly dismounted 28th Cavalry. In Decem- ber 1862, the brigade became part of Maj. Gen. John G. Walker's Texas Division. Under Walker's leadership the Texans earned a well-deserved reputation for enduring long, if sometimes pointless, marches through much of southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Indeed, the men's ability to move quickly and generally in good order earned them the sobri- quet of "Walker's Greyhounds." However, until the spring of 1864, none of the marches led the men of the 28th Texas Cavalry into a pitched battle. These soldiers got their first and only exposure to combat in the 1864 Red River Campaign when they were heavily engaged at Mansfield (April 8), Pleasant Hill (April 9), and Jenkins Ferry (April 30). The three battles cost the regiment 148 casualties. By the end of the war 1,033 men had served in the 28th Texas and the regiment had marched about 4,000 miles. Cer- tainly, as the author concludes, the 28th Texas Cavalry "had answered its country's call and served steadfastly ... in an obscure but still important theater of war" (p. 139).

In recent years many histories have written about Confederate regi- ments that campaigned east of the Mississippi River. Collectively these studies are serving as building blocks that help historians both to examine many larger questions about the nature of the Civil War and to undertake detailed studies of particular armies. Unfortunately, only a small number of regimental studies exist for Trans-Mississippi regiments and few histo- rians have looked at larger units such as Walker's Texas Division. Mono- graphs like Peculiar Honor will help provide the building blocks that other historians need to examine many of the larger questions about those Rebel armies that served west of the Mississippi River. Thorough studies like this volume go past the simple narrative and provide readers with a socio-eco- nomic context to help them understand more about the men who served in the Confederate armies. Despite all the writing that has been done on the Civil War, comprehensive histories of the Confederate armies that served west of the Mississippi River have yet to be written. More regimental nar- ratives like Peculiar Honor need to be published so that the story of those armies can finally be told.

Bobby Roberts Central Arkansas Library System

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