Bushwhacker: Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand (Abridged, Annotated)

This 2020 edition contains newly-unearthed information about Hildebrand and other people who appear in the narrative.

Bushwhacker: The Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand is one of the most gripping, unfiltered first-person accounts to come out of the American Civil War’s shadow war—the brutal world of the guerrillas.

Samuel S. Hildebrand, feared and hunted across Missouri and beyond, was a man who fought the war his own way. Operating outside regular command, he led a band of bushwhackers who ambushed, raided, and vanished into the wild Ozark hills. To his followers, he was a hero of the Confederate cause. To Union soldiers and loyalists, he was a ruthless outlaw and assassin. To history, he remains one of the most notorious—and least understood—guerrillas of the Civil War.

Long out of print and rarely seen, this raw autobiographical narrative pulls readers straight into the chaos and moral twilight of irregular warfare. Hildebrand defends his bloody career in his own words, naming names, recounting raids, and challenging earlier attempts to tell his story. This definitive edition features new research and historical notes uncovering details never before published—offering fresh insight into Hildebrand’s world and the violent borderlands of Missouri.

For readers of True Civil War Stories, Guerrilla Warfare in Missouri, Jesse James and the Outlaw Legends, and Quantrill’s Raiders, this book delivers an unforgettable glimpse into the men who fought without rules, without mercy, and without regret.