The South Vs. The South

How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Minority Studies, African-American Studies, History, Americas, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Cover of the book The South Vs. The South by William W. Freehling, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: William W. Freehling ISBN: 9780199832071
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: November 14, 2002
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: William W. Freehling
ISBN: 9780199832071
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: November 14, 2002
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Why did the Confederacy lose the Civil War? Most historians point to the larger number of Union troops, for example, or the North's greater industrial might. Now, in The South Vs. the South, one of America's leading authorities on the Civil War era offers an entirely new answer to this question. William Freehling argues that anti-Confederate Southerners--specifically, border state whites and southern blacks--helped cost the Confederacy the war. White men in such border states as Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland, Freehling points out, were divided in their loyalties--but far more joined the Union army (or simply stayed home) than marched off in Confederate gray. If they had enlisted as rebel troops in the same proportion as white men did farther south, their numbers would have offset all the Confederate casualties during four years of war. In addition, when those states stayed loyal, the vast majority of the South's urban population and industrial capacity remained in Union hands. And many forget, Freehling writes, that the slaves' own decisions led to a series of white decisions (culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation) that turned federal forces into an army of liberation, depriving the South of labor and adding essential troops to the blue ranks. Whether revising our conception of slavery or of Abraham Lincoln, or establishing the antecedents of Martin Luther King, or analyzing Union military strategy, or uncovering new meanings in what is arguably America's greatest piece of sculpture, Augustus St.-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial, Freehling writes with piercing insight and rhetorical verve. Concise and provocative, The South Vs. the South will forever change the way we view the Civil War.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Why did the Confederacy lose the Civil War? Most historians point to the larger number of Union troops, for example, or the North's greater industrial might. Now, in The South Vs. the South, one of America's leading authorities on the Civil War era offers an entirely new answer to this question. William Freehling argues that anti-Confederate Southerners--specifically, border state whites and southern blacks--helped cost the Confederacy the war. White men in such border states as Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland, Freehling points out, were divided in their loyalties--but far more joined the Union army (or simply stayed home) than marched off in Confederate gray. If they had enlisted as rebel troops in the same proportion as white men did farther south, their numbers would have offset all the Confederate casualties during four years of war. In addition, when those states stayed loyal, the vast majority of the South's urban population and industrial capacity remained in Union hands. And many forget, Freehling writes, that the slaves' own decisions led to a series of white decisions (culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation) that turned federal forces into an army of liberation, depriving the South of labor and adding essential troops to the blue ranks. Whether revising our conception of slavery or of Abraham Lincoln, or establishing the antecedents of Martin Luther King, or analyzing Union military strategy, or uncovering new meanings in what is arguably America's greatest piece of sculpture, Augustus St.-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial, Freehling writes with piercing insight and rhetorical verve. Concise and provocative, The South Vs. the South will forever change the way we view the Civil War.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Focus on Assessment - Oxford Key Concepts for the Language Classroom by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Methodism in the American Forest by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Neurological Diseases and Pregnancy by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Campaigning Online by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Red Families V. Blue Families : Legal Polarization And The Creation Of Culture by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Paradigms of International Human Rights Law by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book The Western Esoteric Traditions by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Tough Decisions by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Police in Africa by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Ravished by Beauty by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book A Ghost in Love and Other Plays Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book The Alcoholic Empire by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Our Superheroes, Ourselves by William W. Freehling
Cover of the book Jurisdictional Immunities of States and International Organizations by William W. Freehling
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy