Why did the Confederacy lose the Civil War? Most historians point to the larger number of Union troops, for example, or the North's greater industrial might. Now, in The South Vs. the South, one of America's leading authorities on the Civil War era offers an entirely new answer to this question.
William Freehling argues that anti-Confederate Southerners--specifically, border state whites and southern blacks--helped cost the Confederacy the war. White men in such border states as Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland, Freehling points out, were divided in their loyalties--but far more joined the Union army (or simply stayed home) than marched off in Confederate gray. If they had enlisted as rebel troops in the same proportion as white men did farther south, their numbers would have offset all the Confederate casualties during four years of war. In addition, when those states stayed loyal, the vast majority of the South's urban population and industrial capacity remained in Union hands. And many forget, Freehling writes, that the slaves' own decisions led to a series of white decisions (culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation) that turned federal forces into an army of liberation, depriving the South of labor and adding essential troops to the blue ranks.
Whether revising our conception of slavery or of Abraham Lincoln, or establishing the antecedents of Martin Luther King, or analyzing Union military strategy, or uncovering new meanings in what is arguably America's greatest piece of sculpture, Augustus St.-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial, Freehling writes with piercing insight and rhetorical verve. Concise and provocative, The South Vs. the South will forever change the way we view the Civil War.
Industry Reviews
"A rattling good read, Freehling's re-rendering of the Civil War overflows with compelling commentary on race and emancipation, military strategy and battlefield blunders, slave resistance, anti-Confederate dissent and much, much more. The South vs. the South may cover familiar terrain, but Freehling recasts conflicts from Sumter to Appomattox to showcase his scintillating insights and bracing originality. This enthralling narrative deserves a wide
audience."--Catherine Clinton, author of Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars
"The South vs. the South quickens our understanding of the ways that African-Americans fought, labored, sacrificed, and died to help win the Civil War, and freedom. We learn also of Southern citizens loyal to the United States of America who courageously defied the secessionists and the Confederate government. Thanks to the author we are long steps closer to greater enlightenment."--Thomas B. Buell, author of The Warrior Generals: Combat Leadership
in the Civil War
"One of the most original and exciting books I've ever encountered. He takes a sweeping view of the Civil War, yet he explains carefully and precisely why, how, and where the Union triumphed and the Confederacy failed. At the heart of the struggle, and rightly so, he places the courage and actions of African Americans who directly aided and rescued the North in a multitude of ways, making a war for the Union a war for freedom. This book is a masterpiece of
historical research, interpretation, and writing."--T. Michael Parrish, former president of the Society of Civil War Historians
