Southern Families at War: Loyalty and Conflict in the Civil War South

by Catherine Clinton (Editor)

Overview

Whether it was planter patriarchs struggling to maintain authority, or Jewish families coerced by Christian evangelicalism, or wives and mothers left behind to care for slaves and children, the Civil War took a terrible toll. From the bustling sidewalks of Richmond to the parched plains of the Texas frontier, from the rich Alabama black belt to the Tennessee woodlands, no corner of the South went unscathed. Through the prism of the southern family, this volume of twelve original essays provides fresh insights into this watershed in American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199923762
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/10/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Catherine Clinton is a historian of southern history, women's history, and the American Civil War. She is currently Weissman Visiting Professor of History, Baruch College, City University of New York.

Table of Contents

	Contributors	ix
	Introduction Southern Families at War: Loyalty and Conflict during the Civil War	3
1.	Looking for Lost Kin: Efforts to Reunite Freed Families after Emancipation	15
2.	For Better or for Worse: Black Families and "the State" in Civil War Virginia	35
3.	In the Shadow of the Old Constitution: Black Civil War Veterans and the Persistence of Slave Marriage Customs	59
4.	"Of Necessity and Public Benefit": Southern Families and Their Appeals for Protection	77
5.	"High with Courage and Hope": The Middleton Family's Civil War	101
6.	"The White Wings of Eros": Courtship and Marriage in Confederate Richmond	119
7.	"Good Angels": Confederate Widowhood in Virginia	133
8.	"A Family of Women and Children": The Fains of East Tennessee during Wartime	155
9.	Power, Sex, and Gender Roles: The Transformation of an Alabama Planter Family during the Civil War	175
10.	Taking Up the Cross: Conversion among Black and White Jews in the Civil War South	193
11.	In the Far Corner of the Confederacy: A Question of Conscience for German-Speaking Texans	211
12.	Patriarchy in the World Where There Is No Parting?: Power Relations in the Confederate Heaven	229

Editorial Reviews

Although historical scholarship has long focused on the military and political aspects of the American Civil War, the impact of its incredible carnage, economic dislocation, and social transformation on the lives of individuals has escaped much academic scrutiny until recently. Clinton (Southern and women's history, Baruch Coll., CUNY: Civil War Stories, LJ 9/15/98) has compiled a collection of essays that analyzes the experience of Southern families during and after his pivotal conflict. She addresses such intriguing topics as the disruption of family relations by conflicting loyalties, the growing independence or desperation of wives and widows on the home front, and the forging of new lives by African Americans in the wake of emancipation. Well written and researched, these essays represent some of the best new scholarship on this much investigated period by both emerging and established scholars. This fascinating volume is essential for academic and larger public library.-Theresa McDevitt, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania

Library Journal

"A welcome addition to the fields of Civil War and family history. The diversity of subjects will give the reader an overview of the war's effect on family life throughout the South."—Kentucky Historical Society

"The best of the essays offer inventive and perceptive alalyses informed by a deep humanity."—Civil War History

From the Publisher