Southern unionist pamphlets and the Civil War / edited by Jon L. Wakelyn.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Wakelyn, Jon L.

Series:

Shades of blue and gray series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Secession.

Confederate States of America--Politics and government--Sources.

Confederate States of America.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Pamphlets.

United States.

History.

Southern States.

Unionists (United States Civil War).

United States. Army--Southern unionists.

United States. Army.

Secession--Southern States--Sources.

Genre:

Pamphlets.

Sources.

Physical Description:

xiii, 392 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of Missouri Press, [1999]

Summary:

During the Civil War, many southerners expressed serious opposition to secession and openly entreated their fellow southerners to maintain support for the Union. A number of these unionists actively opposed the Confederacy while remaining within its borders; others fled their homes and the South, becoming exiles in northern cities and the border slave states. The southern unionist leaders used their oral and written communication skills to proclaim their opposition to the Confederacy, often producing pamphlets that circulated in the North, in the border states, and in the heart of the Confederacy itself. Jon L. Wakelyn unites the voices of these southern unionists in the first comprehensive collection of their written protests -- Southern Unionist Pamphlets and the Civil War.

Including eighteen complete pamphlets and a discussion of twenty-two others, this book provides a magnificent representation of the southern unionists and their concerns. Written between 1861 and 1865, the pamphlets were compiled by local and national political leaders, including three federal congressmen and future vice president Andrew Johnson, as well as concerned private citizens and members of the military and clergy. Except for Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia, all Confederate and border states are represented in this collection.

The topics discussed and the events described in the pamphlets cover a wide range of subjects. The authors discuss their motivation to remain loyal to the union, the actions of their friends and enemies, the perilous life of unionists behind military lines, their continued support for the federal government, and their hopes for a restored Union. Aware that their northernallies would read these pamphlets, the unionists also wrote to solicit northern aid, to renew efforts to defeat the Confederacy, and to gain sympathy for the plight of their people behind enemy lines.

A remarkable collection of primary source material, Southern Unionist Pamphlets and the Civil War provides the most detailed study of the internal resistance to the Confederacy available to date. Students, scholars, and general readers alike will find this volume an invaluable resource for Civil War studies.

Contents:

Introduction: Southern Unionist Pamphleteers on Governance during the Civil War 1

Reply to the Speech of Hon. J. C. Breckinridge, Delivered in the United States Senate, July 16th, 1861 / Anna Ella Carroll 16

The Civil War: Its Nature and End / Robert Jefferson Breckinridge 27

Speech on the Object of the War / Waitman T. Willey 56

Speech on the Bill to Confiscate the Property and Free the Slaves of Rebels / John S. Carlile 82

Speech against the Great Rebellion / William Gannaway Brownlow 105

Union and Secession in Mississippi / John W. Wood 120

The Wrongs to Missouri's Loyal People / Charles D. Drake 148

The Institution of Slavery in the Southern States, Religiously and Morally Considered in Connection with Our Sectional Troubles / Bryan Tyson 170

Address in Favor of Reunion in 1863 / Edward W. Gantt 203

What Is Unconditional Unionism? / Michael Hahn 225

Address to the People of Texas / Andrew Jackson Hamilton 238

Speech on the Restoration of State Government / Andrew Johnson 255

Letter to His Excellency the President and the Honorable Congress of the United States, on the Subject of Abuse of Military Power in the Command of General Butler in Virginia and North Carolina / Francis Harrison Pierpont 273

Speech in the House of Representatives of the United States, May 17th, 1864, in Defence of His Claim to a Seat in That Body / Joseph E. Segar 304

Letter / Jeremiah Clemens 330

Letter to the Hon. Henry Winter Davis / Thomas J. Durant 341

The Political Position of Thomas J. Durant / Anthony Paul Dostie 360

Speech on the Occasion of the Reception by the Legislature of the News of the Passage of the Convention Ordinance Abolishing Slavery in Missouri / Thomas C. Fletcher 369

Comments on Southern Unionist Pamphlets Not Selected for Inclusion 373

Comments on Immediate Postwar Southern Unionist Pamphlets 383.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0826212646

OCLC:

42291262