Published in Hardcover, 2003, 178 pages as Part of "The Civil War in the West" Series, University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville
ISBN 1-55728-753-8
No Longer In Print

The wonder is that William Monks lived to write
 A History of Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas.
A turbulent man in a violent time and chaotic place, he was a man to be reckoned with in the central Ozarks for two decades, beginning with the Civil War.

Originally published in 1907 and now reprinted for the first time, this is the only account published by a Unionist guerilla.  A local legend in Howell County, Missouri, Monks was a staunch Unionist, a refugee, a federal scout, and anti-guerilla fighter, a county official, a state representative, and an officer in both Missouri and Arkansas post-war militias.

"A riveting story and a valuable research tool."
-Daniel Sutherland, Civil War in the West series editor

"William Monk's compelling memoir of the Civil War and its aftermath in Missouri and Arkansas contains little about marching armies and set-piece battles, but it presents a fascinating account of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times.  Here is a glimpse of the real war in the Trans-Mississippi where arson and ambuscades were commonplace events and everyone had a score to settle."
-William Shea, co-author of Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West

Editors Bradbury and Wehmer have included a new biographical sketch of Monks, filling in the gaps in his narrative, identifying all the people and places to which he refers, and offer a detailed index.

Lou Wehmer - John Bradbury