Emory M. ThomasReseñas

Pretty good life story concentrating on years prior to end of war

Conshohocken, PA

This book is very readable and very informative, covering issues that are rarely addressed. Thomas emphasizes that the South and Southerners were different before, during, and after the Confederacy. He doesn't deal with the last period, but he contends that the struggle to build a nation while fighting a war caused white Southerners to change, indeed virtually destroy, the culture that they went to war to protect. The idea of a collection of sovereign states forming a federation collapsed under the exigencies of war. Their Federal goverment became ever stronger as the war went on. Thomas points out that the Confederacy based their own constitution on the US Constitution, instead of the Articles of Confederation, which proceeded the US Constitution, which might have seemed more appropriate. Perhaps they understood, but couldn't consciously accept, that the failure of the Articles demonstrated that it would be difficult to create a viable nation along the lines that they envisioned. Southern heroes like Stonewall Jackson, from the lower white classes, also broke down the previous class structure.

They also let their hopes override their understanding of the possible consequences of secession. Many told themselves that the US would not fight to keep the Union together, or if they did, that white Southerners would be much better soldiers than the despised Yankees. They also thought that "King Cotton" would give them more leverage with Europe, make up for their industrial deficiencies, and win them at least offical recognation as a separate country. They were partly undercut by the cotton bumper crops in 1859 and 1860, which meant that the "cotton famine" on which they placed so much hope was delayed. They also didn't reckon with the Union blockade, which while not extremely effective, especially at first, was damaging. I suggest reading Don Harrison Doyle's The Cause of All Nations, for the attitudes of Europeans towards the American Civil War. Apparently white Southerners also counted on commanding the obedience and loyalty of their slaves -- while I'm not aware of any revolts, they in fact decided that didn't have to obey, except in their own interests, like growing food.

I have never been terribly interested in the actual battles of the Civil War, feeling that the only important matter is that the Union won. I read mostly about social and political aspects of the situation. This is probably why I was somewhat surprised: I had always envisioned the South as winning militarily up until say, Gettysburg. In fact, as Thomas shows, after the initial victory at Bull Run, Southern success declined until reviving in the spring of 1862, and then began to decline again in 1863.

Thomas gives credit to the Confederacy for the speed with which they developed an industry to support their efforts, but this was somewhat pyrrhic in undermining the white Southerners view of themselves as an agrarian society, much nobler than the somewhat more industrial North, which was still largely agrarian. In the end, try though they might, the Confederates never got their factors they needed to win aligned. As their industrial output increased, their production of food lagged behind, and their inferior manpower resources began to tell.

I also recommend on this subject Bruce C. Levine's The Fall of the House of Dixie;
William H. Freehling The South versus the South;
David Williams's (the proud descendent of Confederate draft dodgers) Bitterly Divided: the South's Inner Civil War; and,
Chandra Manning's What This Cruel War was Over, in which she studies the letters of common soldiers to determine how they saw the war.

A good, short, engaging account of the first year of the war. The most intriguing part is Thomas's attempt to divine the inner workings of the minds of Lincoln and Davis.½

"Travels to Hallowed Ground" is a nice combination of Civil War history-lesson and the personal recollections of Emory M. Thomas about his visits to several battlefields and sites in the mid-eighties. I was a bit surprised to see that someone as well-versed in Civil War history as Mr. Thomas was found it almost as difficult as I did to locate points on some of the battlefields that were not part of the main "driving tour." I enjoyed reading the author's personal thoughts as much as his recaps of what happened at the places he visited, as it gave the history a "personalized" feel. Too, one has to remember that this book was published in 1987, some 27 years ago, and some of what Thomas describes of his trips probably no longer exists...even though, he was already lamenting, in some cases, the commercial buildup around some of the places he visited. I particularly enjoyed the last chapter of the book, "Peace at Bennett Place," because I knew considerably less of this site than the others described in the book. Now, I have "the Bennet Place" on my places to visit next time I find myself anywhere around North Carolina.

4470. The Confederate Nation 1861-1865, by Emory M. Thomas (read 10 Aug 2008) This is an even-handed study by a then University of Georgia professor, published in 1979. It studies the Confederacy from its beginning till April 1865. It is well-researched and was good to read. And as all books on the Civil War do, it ends right. It even includes the text of the Confederate Constitution, written much more quickly than the U.S. Constitution--because they mostly copied the U.S. Constitution

Good book. Shows how the principles on which the Confederacy was based - even slavery - got watered down and whittled away by the concrete necessities involved in the fighting of the Civil War. Then the Confederacy lost - and suddenly the principles were everything again. Makes you think.