The Myth of the Lost Cause: Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won

by Edward H. Bonekemper III

Overview

History isn't always written by the winners...

Twenty-first-century controversies over Confederate monuments attest to the enduring significance of our nineteenth-century Civil War. As Lincoln knew, the meaning of America itself depends on how we understand that fratricidal struggle.

As soon as the Army of Northern Virginia laid down its arms at Appomattox, a group of Confederate officers took up their pens to refight the war for the history books. They composed a new narrative—the Myth of the Lost Cause—seeking to ennoble the sacrifice and defeat of the South, which popular historians in the twentieth century would perpetuate. Unfortunately, that myth would distort the historical imagination of Americans, north and south, for 150 years.

In this balanced and compelling correction of the historical record, Edward Bonekemper helps us understand the Myth of the Lost Cause and its effect on the social and political controversies that are still important to all Americans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684513604
Publisher:	Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Series:	Civil War Collection
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	656,217
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Edward H. Bonekemper III was an adjunct lecturer on military history at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, an attorney for the U.S. government, and the book review editor of Civil War News. He wrote many books on the Civil War, including Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor Not a Butcher, Grant and Lee: Victorious American and Vanquished Virginian, Lincoln and Grant: The Westerners Who Won the Civil War, The Myth of the Lost Cause: Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won, and The 10 Biggest Civil War Blunders.

Table of Contents

Prorogue xi

Chapter 1 The Myth of the Lost Cause 1

Chapter 2 What was the Nature of Slavery in 1861 and Was it a Dying Institution? 9

Chapter 3 Was Slavery the Primary Cause of Secession and the Civil War? 31

Chapter 4 Could the South Have Won the Civil War? 97

Chapter 5 Was Robert E. Lee One of the Greatest Generals in History? 109

Chapter 6 Did James Longstreet Lose the Battle of Gettysburg and Thus the War? 143

Chapter 7 Did Ulysses S. Grant Win the Civil War Simply by Brute Force and Superior Numbers? 193

Chapter 8 Did the North Win by Waging "Total War"? 247

Chapter 9 Conclusion 255

Acknowledgments 267

Notes 269

Bibliography 331