Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862. By Richard B. McCaslin. Baton Rogue LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1994.

     The infamous “Great Hanging” (1) in Gainesville, Texas in October 1862 resulted in the executions of at least forty-two suspected Unionists and remains “the largest incident of its kind in United States history” (5-6). Tainted Breese: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862 by noted Civil War scholar Richard B. McCaslin, examines how the tensions inherent in a frontier society exploded amidst fears of Unionist and abolitionist sabotage of Confederate authority and culminated in the arrests of over two hundred citizens by a vigilante committee “for conspiring to commit treason and foment insurrection” (1). McCaslin, the author of numerous books dealing with the Civil War and Reconstruction period, provides an objective and well written account of one of the most controversial events in Texas history and reveals the complex divisions that devastated a community and inspired a brutal series of retaliations that lasted far longer than the short-lived Confederate States of America.

     McCaslin’s work details the tragic events that occurred in Gainesville by utilizing extensive research into the largely forgotten incident, relying heavily upon the surviving primary sources from the extra-legal affair. McCaslin also analyzes newspaper coverage of the “Great Hanging,” as well as the census and land records of the victims and their executioners. McCaslin’s research proves that many of the victims were more successful financially than previously thought, with several prisoners classified as middle class. Political sentiment, particularly concerning the institution of slavery, appears to have been the most important factors motivating the vigilantes. A substantial majority of the Confederate supporters who instigated the executions were slaveowners, while only one of the victims owned a slave. McCaslin’s investigation also concludes that familial relationships played an overlooked but substantially influential role in the “Great Hanging,” as several of the victims “may well have been condemned because they were related to a prominent Unionist” (5).

     During the sectional crisis and the Civil War, the entire North Texas region was heavily divided, with a large segment of the population voting against secession.  A large number of settlers in area were from the Upper South or North and did not support the institution of slavery, while many others were reluctant to remove the protection of the U.S. Army from the continued threat of Indian raids. After the war began, the Confederacy’s implementation of high taxes, impressments of supplies and livestock, and the forced conscription of military age males into the Confederate army inflamed the simmering threat of dissent. In the fall of the 1862, Confederate sympathizers discovered an underground Unionist secret society that was actively plotting to return the region to Federal control. Fearing a slave uprising and an invasion of Union forces, pro Confederate citizens acted swiftly to destroy the supposed threat to the order and security of the “Dark Corner of the Confederacy” (108). A hastily formed vigilante committee began trials of suspected Unionists, without interference by legal Confederate authority. As McCaslin proves, the “Great Hanging” at Gainesville did not have the desired effect of eliminating dissent in the region, but rather inspired greater turmoil and recriminations. McCaslin concludes that “the consequent chaos further alarmed those settlers who continued to support the Confederacy as the extant authority, and led to renewed violence against anyone accused of undermining order and security by working to restore the Union” and that “it became a repetitive cycle of violence as vigilantes and Confederate officials tried to reimpose order through a campaign of terror along a frontier increasingly alienated by such tactics” (107). The resulting guerilla conflicts did not end with the war, but continued throughout the Reconstruction as attempts to punish the responsible for the Great Hanging were thwarted by former Confederates

Than Dossman

Tainted Breeze:  The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862.  By Richard McCaslin.  Baton Rouge:  Louisiana State University Press, 1994, Pp. xii, 234.

         The Civil War disrupted Southern social order while it threatened its structure.  Many Southerners feared that at any time a slave uprising could occur with abolitionist aid and they sought to thwart it by any means necessary.  On October 1, 1862, in Gainesville, Texas, state militia scoured several counties seeking suspected Unionists because the authorities had heard rumors of a potential plot.  Richard McCaslin describes in Tainted Breeze:  The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862, the ensuing trials and punishments that the Southern society meted out to these individuals.  Using public records, he analyzes this episode to study dissent in the Confederate Southwest. 

McCaslin begins by providing the reader with a background of the area and establishing the atmosphere of hysteria that eventually cultivated the trouble.  After several almost inexplicable fires, any rumor alleging that abolitionists sought to instigate trouble seemed true, leading the citizens to spread them.  As worry evolved into paranoia, any opposition to the Confederacy elicited extreme rebuke; eventually, the authorities imposed martial law on 30 May 1862.  The muffled cries from dissidents prompted them to overt actions of defiance, and they created the Peace party.  Denton County Ranger, Private Jonas B. McCurley, infiltrated the Peace party and his investigation resulted in over a hundred arrests.  The county constructed a Citizens Court to try the suspects and dole out punishment; within the first week, the town had killed twenty-four men.  After the adjournment of the Citizen Court, the murder of William C. Young instigated vendettas against malcontents, which in turn led to further resistance against the Confederacy.  Newspaper articles in the North beckoned the Federal authorities to act on behalf of Southern-Unionists, while the non-responsive attitude of the Confederate authorities condoned the vigilante violence with their silence.  Many settlers hoped that the Federal victory and the end of the war would bring order back to the area, but reality did not fulfill their dreams.  With the Union back in nominal control, the “ex-Confederate” officials stymied the redresses many citizens sought with Ordinance Number 11, “which mandated that no one was to be prosecuted or sued for any acts performed under the Confederate authority” (p. 169).  Even after 2 March 1867, when Congressional Reconstruction began for Texas, the majority’s desire for security wrested all hope away from those that sought rectification.

McCaslin’s thoughtful analysis leaves no end untied in regards to the events that surrounded the Great Hanging. The fallout of the incident irreparably hurt James Throckmorton and other ex-Confederate politicians.  On 30 July 1867, Phil Sheridan removed Throckmorton from the governorship because of this and other incidents and gave the office to Elijah M. Pease.  The author not only brings to light the way in which many politicians were affected; but also he shows how these events contributed to the Union’s subsequent attempts to control the area at the end of the war.  Sheridan took advantage of the incident to help himself preempt civil authority.  In the Epilogue, McCaslin discusses what happened to the other members of the Citizen Court.  Thomas Barrett, one such member, fled the area in fear for his life a year after the ordeal because of the increasing Unionist/Confederate conflict.  Barrett’s family disseminated disinformation that he went to Mexico.  He returned to Gainesville in December 1866, and two years later the authorities tried him with another Citizen Court juror.  Barrett delighted when the trail yielded a verdict of not guilty.  The appendixes of the book also work to clear any questions the author did not address in the narrative.  Appendix A attempts to elucidate the lives of the forty-two persons executed by the Citizens court of Gainesville by using census and various other records.  The second appendix examines the members of the Citizen Court jury at Gainesville, while appendix C looks at the additional participants. 

This horrific incident in Texas history lent itself to a study of dissent and vigilante actions in the Confederate Southwest and McCaslin’s insightful and lucid portrayal of the Great Hanging adds to the historiography of vigilante justice.  His footnotes evidenced his intensive research on the subject and display his scholarly prowess. Many readers, whether they are Civil War historians or they read for enjoyment, will recieve pleasure from Tainted Breeze:  The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862.   

Brooks Sommer