Gendering Secession: White Women and Politics in South Carolina, 1859-1861

by Melissa DeVelvis

Overview

Gendering Secession explores the lives and politics of South Carolina's elite white women from 1859 to 1861. The political drama that unfolded during the secession crisis of 1860 has long captured our attention, but scant regard has been paid to the secessionist women themselves. These women were astute political observers and analysts who filtered their “improper” political ideas through avenues gendered as feminine and therefore socially acceptable. In recreating the rhythms of the year 1860, Melissa DeVelvis spotlights the moments when women realized that national events were too overwhelming to dismiss. Women processed these changes through religious metaphor and prophecy, comparisons to history and the American Revolution, and language borrowed from popular novels. Drawing from emotions history, literary analysis, and even handwriting analysis, DeVelvis reveals how these fiercely patriotic South Carolinian women responded to threats of disunion with fears and misgivings that men would or could not express.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009217859
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/13/2025
Series:	Cambridge Studies on the American South
Pages:	241
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Melissa DeVelvis is Assistant Professor of History at Augusta University. Her work has been published in The Washington Post and the Journal of American Studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. 1859, the last fully antebellum year; 2. 'The gay season,' January–May 1860; 3. Escaping the sickly season, May–September 1860; 4. South Carolina takes action, October–December 1860; 5. The waiting game: December 1860–March 1861; 6. Catharsis and conclusion: Fort Sumter, First Bull Run, and a peek at postbellum.

Editorial Reviews

‘‘Women are like teabags,' Eleanor Roosevelt said. ‘We don't know our true strength until we're in hot water.' In this immersive history, DeVelvis takes us into the emotional worlds of women who had for decades sown the wind and would now reap the whirlwind. As DeVelvis shows, the Civil War involved more than a massive mobilization of women but a massive politicization as well. An intimate portrait of women overtaken by the very events they had themselves helped set in motion, Gendering Secession captures the maelstrom of politics as it feels in real time.' Stephen Berry, University of Georgia

‘Showcasing distinctive ways that women expressed their political sentiments during a critical period in American history, Gendering Secession will appeal to scholars and students of Civil War studies, southern history, gender studies, and women's history.' Anya Jabour, author of Sophonisba Breckinridge: Championing Women's Activism in Modern America

‘With empathy and insight, Melissa DeVelvis explains how elite South Carolina women endured secession's seasons and looming war. Her thorough research and close reading of diaries and letters penned by fascinating women yields a profound understanding of them as individuals and as an understudied group of political actors and storytellers. Gendering Secession is a must read for anyone who studies Civil War history and the U.S. South.' Jason Phillips, author of Looming Civil War: How Nineteenth-Century Americans Imagined the Future

From the Publisher