Preston Filbert's The Half Not Told: The Civil War in a Frontier Town.

Copyright © 2012 Bob R Bogle


I just finished reading The Half Not Told:  The Civil War in a Frontier Town, copyright 2001, Preston Filbert's fine and useful compilation of information about St Joseph, MO and surroundings during the Civil War period.  In the funniest part, Filbert recalls his early research for the book:

. . . .I asked some of the local historians what happened in the city during the war.

"Nothing," I was told.

Among many other things, Memphis Blues Again concerns itself with events in and around the Platte Purchase during that time period; research for the novel eventually led me to Filbert's book.

An ancestor of mine is inspiration for a character in the novel.  He (the flesh and blood ancestor; not the fictional word-and-image-mass) was recruited for the Union up in Rock Port on 3 Aug 1846.  The 43rd MO Volunteer Infantry regiment was organized at St Joe, MO, attached to District of Northern MO, Dept of MO, during the period 22 Aug-7 Sep 1864.  Part of this regiment took a boat ride down the Missouri River on the steamers West Wind and Benton on their rendezvous with some of Sterling Price's more skillful and professional raiders at the Battle of Glasgow on 15 Oct 1864.  In addition, I've learned within the last month or so that this ancestor had family (via his stepfather) living in the thick of it down in Buchanan Co during the decade of the 1850s.  The Half Not Told has definitely helped me fill in some of the missing pieces to the puzzle so I can better understand what was going on in the parallel heads of my character and my ancestor.

Read a bit more about Filbert's book here.