Tainted Breeze: Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, 1862 - Tapa dura

More than 200 alleged Unionists from five northern Texas counties were rounded up in October 1862, brought to Gainesville, and subsequently hanged or lynched. This detailed account follows the course of mounting tensions and violence that preceded the roundup. Ironically, both the vigilantes and their victims shared a concern for order and the status quo, differing only in that the alleged Unionists saw Federal rule as the means for suppressing slave insurrections and hostile Indian attacks. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Richard B. McCaslin is assistant professor of history at High Point University, in High Point, North Carolina.