Synopses & Reviews
Although North Carolina was a "home front" state rather than a battlefield state for most of the Civil War, it was heavily involved in the Confederate war effort and experienced many conflicts as a result. North Carolinians were divided over the issue of secession, and changes in race and gender relations brought new controversy. Blacks fought for freedom, women sought greater independence, and their aspirations for change stimulated fierce resistance from more privileged groups. Republicans and Democrats fought over power during Reconstruction and for decades thereafter disagreed over the meaning of the war and Reconstruction.
With contributions by well-known historians as well as talented younger scholars, this volume offers new insights into all the key issues of the Civil War era that played out in pronounced ways in the Tar Heel State. In nine essays composed specifically for this volume, contributors address themes such as ambivalent whites, freed blacks, the political establishment, racial hopes and fears, postwar ideology, and North Carolina women. These issues of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras were so powerful that they continue to agitate North Carolinians today.
Contributors include David Brown, Judkin Browning, Laura F. Edwards, Paul D. Escott, John C. Inscoe, Chandra Manning, Barton A. Myers, Steven E. Nash, Paul Yandle, and Karin Zipf. The editor is Paul D. Escott.
Review
"Even skeptics will be pleasantly surprised by how these articles advance our knowledge. . . . Stimulating. . . . Add[s] to our understanding of gender and memory in nineteenth-century North Carolina."
-- Journal of American History
Review
"Contributors provide a number of interesting windows on North Carolinians' experiences during the Civil War. . . . The quality of the research and writing make this collection a welcome addition to the literature."
--Journal of Southern History
About the Author
Paul D. Escott is Reynolds Professor of American History and former dean at Wake Forest University. He is author or editor of thirteen books, including Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives and Many Excellent People: Power and Privilege in North Carolina, 1850-1900 (both from the University of North Carolina Press).
Table of Contents
ContentsIntroduction
North Carolinian Ambivalence: Rethinking Loyalty and Disaffection in the Civil War Piedmont
David Brown
A More Rigorous Style of Warfare: Wild's Raid, Guerrilla Violence, and Negotiated Neutrality in Northeastern North Carolina
Barton A. Myers
Visions of Freedom and Civilization Opening before Them: African Americans Search for Autonomy during Military Occupation in North Carolina
Judkin Browning
The Order of Nature Would Be Reversed: Soldiers, Slavery, and the North Carolina Gubernatorial Election of 1864
Chandra Manning
To Do Justice to North Carolina: The War's End according to Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Zebulon B. Vance, and David L. Swain
John C. Inscoe
Reconstruction and North Carolina Women's Tangled History with Law and Governance
Laura F. Edwards
No Longer under Cover(ture): Marriage, Divorce, and Gender in the 1868 Constitutional Convention
Karin Zipf
Different Colored Currents of the Sea: Reconstruction North Carolina, Mutuality, and the Political Roots of Jim Crow, 1872-1875
Paul Yandle
The Immortal Vance: The Political Commemoration of North Carolina's War Governor
Steven E. Nash
Contributors
Index