General Jo Shelby

Undefeated Rebel

By Daniel O'Flaherty

With a new foreword by Daniel E. Sutherland

General Jo Shelby

464 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 1 illus., 1 map

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-4878-4
    Published: June 2000
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-2422-8
    Published: January 2015
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7350-7
    Published: January 2015

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This vivid work, first published by UNC Press in 1954, reveals General Joseph Orville Shelby as one of the best Confederate cavalry leaders--and certainly the most colorful.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, but drawn by the promise of the growing West, Shelby became one of the richest men in Missouri. Siding with the Confederacy at the outbreak of the Civil War, he organized his Iron Brigade of cavalry--whose ranks included Frank and Jesse James--taught his men a slashing frontier style of fighting, and led them on incredible raids against Federal forces in Missouri. When the Confederacy fell, Shelby refused to surrender and instead took his command to Mexico, where they fought in support of the emperor Maximilian. Upon his return to Missouri, Shelby became an immensely popular figure in the state, eventually attaining the status of folk hero, a living symbol of the Civil War in the West.

"O'Flaherty has written a first-rate book . . . combining careful scholarship with the ability to tell a story in an engaging manner."--Saturday Review

"An interesting and readable life story of a long neglected Confederate general."--Military Affairs

About the Author

Daniel O'Flaherty was a reporter, radio executive, and magazine writer who lived in Richmond, Virginia.
For more information about Daniel O'Flaherty, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"Fascinating. . . . O'Flaherty has written a first-rate book . . . combining careful scholarship with the ability to tell a story in an engaging manner."--Bruce Catton, Saturday Review

"An interesting and readable life story of a long neglected Confederate general."--Military Affairs

"For those interested in this theater of the Civil War… [General Jo Shelby: Undefeated Rebel] offers an enjoyable account of some of its most important campaigns."--Post Library

"A biography of one of the most colorful Confederate cavalrymen who fought in the Trans-Mississippi Department during the Civil War. . . . The book is attractively written and holds the reader closely to the end."--American Historical Review