In the states of the former Confederacy, Reconstruction amounted 
to a second Civil War, one that white Southerners were determined 
to win. An important chapter in that undeclared conflict played out 
in northeast Texas, in the Corners region where Grayson, Fannin, 
Hunt, and Collin Counties converged.

    Part of that violence came to be called the Lee-Peacock Feud, a 
struggle in which Unionists led by Lewis Peacock and former 
Confederates led by Bob Lee sought to even old scores, as well as 
to set the terms of the new South, especially regarding the status of 
freed slaves.

    For Bob Lee, a Confederate veteran, the new phase of the war 
began when he refused to release his slaves. When Federal 
officials came to his farm in July to enforce emancipation, he fought 
back and finally fled as a fugitive. In the relatively short time left to 
his life, he claimed personally to have killed at least forty people. 
Peacock, a dedicated leader of the Unionist efforts, became his 
chief foe. Both men eventually died at the hands of the other’s 
supporters.

    From previously untapped sources in the National Archives, the 
authors have tracked down the details of the Corners violence, 
adding to the reinterpretation of Reconstruction history and 
rescuing from myth events that shaped the following century of 
Southern politics.

_________________________________________________________

JAMES M. SMALLWOOD was a professor of history at Oklahoma
State University in Stillwater until retiring and moving to Gainesville,
Texas. The late BARRY A. CROUCH was a long-time professor of
history at Gallaudet University, where he taught U.S. and Southern
history. LARRY PEACOCK is a genealogist and historian who lives
in Burleson, Texas, and formerly worked for the TV station WFAA.
He currently works in firearms training at the Handgun Academy of
Burleson.


Number Six: Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life, sponsored by 
Texas A&M University–Commerce


What people are saying about this book


“. . . by focusing on postwar violence in northeast Texas, the authors 
help to illuminate the overwhelming odds Republicans faced in 
maintaining control in the wilder South.”—The Journal of Southern History

“If you believe all of the old stories about Reconstruction this book
is bound to cause you some annoyance, perhaps a great deal of
consternation, and it will turn your beliefs topsy-turvy on almost
every page. Anyone who reads this book will Think with a capital T. 
You cannot help but wonder about this slice of history that has been
retold incorrectly so often that the legend has far outstripped the
facts. Until now.”—The Cowboy Chronicle