Fallen Guidon

Although Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April, 1865, some Confederates refused to abandon their cause. Fallen Guidon, originally published in 1962 by Jack Rittenhouse's Stagecoach Press, describes the adventures of a Confederate brigade that, rather than surrender, decided to transplant its vision of a Southern Empire in the troubled soil of Mexico. This popularly written history, based on archival sources and the reminiscences of Shelby's adjutant, brings vividly to life a little-remembered episode of the Civil War period and of American incursions in Mexico. General Jo Shelby had led the fiercely loyal and intensely chivalrous Missouri Cavalry Division through numerous battles in the Trans-Mississippi theater. At war's end he heard that the U.S. government supported the idea of ex-Confederates helping to oust European emperor Maximilian from Mexico. Deciding that his troops could save their honor and perhaps enrich themselves by coming to Mexico's aid, Shelby invited the men to participate in the adventure. But the former Rebels did not want to fight alongside Mexican guerrillas. Fallen Guidon traces the Iron Brigade's transformation into imperialists, the trail of blood they spilled from Piedras Negras to Mexico City, and the final futility of their cause, as Maximilian declined the mercenaries' services.