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This article was downloaded by: [University Of Pittsburgh] On: 30 October 2014, At: 07:02 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK American Nineteenth Century History Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fanc20 North Carolinians in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction Marc Egnal a a York University , Toronto Published online: 21 Apr 2011. To cite this article: Marc Egnal (2011) North Carolinians in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction, American Nineteenth Century History, 12:1, 117-118, DOI: 10.1080/14664658.2011.559764 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14664658.2011.559764 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

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Page 1: North Carolinians in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction

This article was downloaded by: [University Of Pittsburgh]On: 30 October 2014, At: 07:02Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

American Nineteenth Century HistoryPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fanc20

North Carolinians in the Era of the CivilWar and ReconstructionMarc Egnal aa York University , TorontoPublished online: 21 Apr 2011.

To cite this article: Marc Egnal (2011) North Carolinians in the Era of the Civil Warand Reconstruction, American Nineteenth Century History, 12:1, 117-118, DOI:10.1080/14664658.2011.559764

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14664658.2011.559764

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: North Carolinians in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction

As we enter the sesquicentennial, scholars can only hope that works like Barney’s

continue to emerge.

BARTON A. MYERS

Texas Tech University

# 2011, Barton A. Myers

North Carolinians in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction

EDITED BY PAUL D. ESCOTT

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008

Pp. 320, $49.95 (hbk), $22.50 (pbk), ISBNs 978 0 8078 3222 6 and 978 0 8078 5901 8

This work, edited and introduced by Paul D. Escott, brings together an exemplary set

of nine essays on Civil War-era North Carolina. The authors include a mix of

established scholars and individuals at the beginnings of their careers. Without

exception, the pieces are well researched and well written. Like other first-rate local

studies, they have resonances far beyond their immediate focus. The chapters

examine the loyalties of North Carolinians, the activities of African Americans, the

changing status of women, and the struggle to define the ‘‘memory’’ of the war.

Three essays, not wholly in agreement with each other, examine the allegiances of

Tar Heels during the war. David Brown explores the outlook of whites in the

Piedmont counties. He notes that a small group backed the Union, while perhaps 20

percent of the citizenry joined Confederate ranks in 1861. Most individuals, however,

remained ambivalent. Brown concludes, ‘‘We need to . . . rediscover the large

number who occupied the middle ground’’ (p. 31). Chandra Manning examines

the gubernatorial election of 1864 and provides a different slant. She argues that

Zebulon Vance’s striking victory over William Holden reflected voters’ strong

commitment to the war and their rejection of Holden’s peace proposals. Vance

rallied his supporters by raising the specter of abolition. Barton Myers analyzes Union

general Edward Wild’s 1863 campaign in the Albemarle Sound area, and offers still

another reading of Tar Heel loyalties. In this richly textured piece, Myers looks at

questions of gender, race, and class, as well as the role of Confederate guerillas and

loyal plantation owners. Ultimately, the residents of the area sought the ‘‘middle

ground’’ that Brown discusses. Widely signed petitions advocated ‘‘neutrality’’ and

respect for property rights.

Two chapters look more closely at the changing fortunes of African Americans.

Judkin Browning discusses the response of blacks to emancipation. This essay

confirms recent studies. Browning shows that bondspeople eagerly embraced

freedom, braving hardships to reach the Union lines. They sought education, land,

and military service, even though racist Northerners often treated them with

condescension or spurned their demands. Paul Yandle examines the years from 1872

to 1875 and the advent of Jim Crow legislation. This essay analyzes the interplay of

race, region, and party against the backdrop of growing conservative strength and the

determination to pass more restrictive laws. Few white Republicans defended black

rights. But those in the eastern counties, which had many black constituents, were

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Page 3: North Carolinians in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction

more moderate than mountain Republicans. African American lawmakers did their

best to oppose the torrent of reaction.

While several pieces explore gender issues, two deal specifically with the status of

women. Laura Edwards argues that before the war, women, both black and white,

were regularly involved with the court system, and this participation only increased

with Reconstruction. Although women lacked legal status, the concept of the ‘‘peace,’’

in which the well-being of society was everyone’s concern, brought them into many

proceedings. Women testified as witnesses. On occasion, courts vindicated abused

slave women, when white men violated community norms. After the Civil War

women often initiated actions to assert their civil rights and address domestic issues.

Karin Ziff, focusing on the years from 1867 to 1871, looks at the challenges to

‘‘coverture,’’ the practice that reduced married women to dependent beings. The 1868

constitutional convention turned from other matters to grant female petitioners

absolute divorces for reasons, like abandonment, that courts had traditionally

rejected. Legislation adopted during 1868�69 improved women’s dower rights. Still,

these advances appear to be less than the ‘‘sea change in gender relations’’ that Ziff

claims (p. 214).

Finally, two studies explore the contested memory of the Civil War years. John

Inscoe discusses Cornelia Phillips Spencer’s book, The Last Ninety Days of the War in

North Carolina (1866). Along with condemning General William T. Sherman for his

wanton destruction, Spencer celebrated the Tar Heels as patriotic Southerners.

Observers, North and South, had alleged that North Carolina gave only half-hearted

support to the Confederacy. Spencer also defended two friends, Governor Zebulon

Vance (who had fled from Raleigh when Union forces advanced) and David Swain,

president of the University of North Carolina. Swain’s daughter, after a whirlwind

courtship, had married one of Sherman’s officers and Swain had welcomed the

Northern soldier into the family. Steven Nash’s chapter examines how partisans

contested and re-imagined Vance’s image in the decades after 1865. Using class

rhetoric, Republicans charged that Vance lived well during the war, reveling in the

luxury goods smuggled by blockade runners. Democrats countered that Vance’s sole

concern was the prosperity of North Carolinians, and that he had withstood

Richmond’s demands when necessary. As Populism and agrarian dissent roiled

North Carolina politics, partisans debated whether Vance could be claimed for the

‘‘common folk.’’ Vance, who lived to 1894 and served as Senator from 1878 to his

death, increasingly portrayed himself as a defender of white unity. After 1900

references to Vance declined, as Civil War partisanship grew less important in state

politics.

Essays as well executed as these, even though focused on a single state, shed light

on broader issues. Researchers investigating the depth of Southern patriotism, the

origins of Jim Crow legislation, the changing status of Southern women, or the

contested memory of the Civil War will benefit from these excellent studies.

MARC EGNAL

York University, Toronto

# 2011, Marc Egnal

118 Book Reviews

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