My g-gfather, Jesse Knighten DuBose, was 1st Sgt of Co. K of Bourland's Texas Cavalry Regt serving in N. TX and Indian Territory late in the war (he would have been in his 40s which in that time was a little long-in-tooth for the rigors of active service). Might also note that Non-Commissioned Officers of that era, in most armies, often enforced discipline with their fists. He was apparently a hard man...but he lived in a hard time and place and the weak didn't make it too far. He, and a brother, Dr. Amasa Hamilton DuBose, were charged with murder and assault in Hunt Co. in 1861...were in continuance (?) through the war years and apparently neither ever came to trial. That may have been related to the violence between pro-Union and pro-slavery elements in that area of Texas that resulted in a number of lynchings.

According to some family researchers..and family legend (for whatever that might be worth)..Jesse, who had been executor for his older brother's estate before the war at some later time confronted the husband of his niece (apparently, after the war) for mistreating her. One family source said that "...he (Jesse) horse whipped him through the streets of Greenville..." Not only was "horse whipping" a painful punishment, but it was a major insult and humiliation in that era. One used a whip on one's inferiors (a slave, an animal)but never on one's equal as "a gentleman." Not long after that, Jesse was killed from ambush, leaving a wife and 5 children. His "nephew-in-law" fled the area.

As a side note, his brother, Dr. Amasa DuBose supposedly killed his own son-in-law some years later for mistreating his (Amasa's) daughter.

Obviously, these folks took things serious!!

On my maternal side, my grandmother, born in 1869, was from the Missouri Border Country between Kansas City and St Jo where the post war violence took on a color all its own. Her father had served (CSA) in the war (she was the youngest of a dozen or so children) and she was, of course, very pro-southern. I can remember being admonished by her when I was in grammar school for talking about the "Civil War"...she informed me in no uncertain terms it was the "War Between the States!" She was also supposedly distant kin to the Younger brothers, who in turn, were supposedly kin to the James brothers...both families being somewhat well known in the banking and railroad business, so to speak.

There's considerable literature on the border violence of the WBTS era as well as much fiction. While Hollywood is a poor source of history...facts are skewed to fit the script and maintain the required "political correctness,"...but I can think of two movies that give a sense of time and place for the Border Wars that are worth watching several times over--"The Outlaw Josy Wales" and "Ride with the Devil." Both show the brutality of the border wars and probably reflect what went on in any of the areas previously mention where neighbor vs. neighbor and family vs. family...whether it be north Texas, Indian Territory, western Arkansas, east Tennessee, etc.