Research Catalog

Title

Armies of deliverance : a new history of the Civil War / Elizabeth R. Varon.

Author

Varon, Elizabeth R., 1963-

Publication

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 513 pages : illustrations, maps; 25 cm

Summary

Loyal Americans marched off to war in 1861 not to conquer the South but to liberate it. So argues the author in this book, a sweeping narrative of the Civil War and a bold new interpretation of Union and Confederate war aims. Northerners imagined the war as a crusade to deliver the Southern masses from slaveholder domination and to bring democracy, prosperity, and education to the region. As the war escalated, Lincoln and his allies built the case that emancipation would secure military victory and benefit the North and South alike. The theme of deliverance was essential in mobilizing a Unionist coalition of Northerners and anti-Confederate Southerners. Confederates, fighting to establish an independent slaveholding republic, were determined to preempt, discredit, and silence Yankee appeals to the Southern masses. In their quest for political unity Confederates relentlessly played up two themes: Northern barbarity and Southern victimization. Casting the Union army as ruthless conquerors, Confederates argued that the emancipation of blacks was synonymous with the subjugation of the white South. Interweaving military and social history, the author shows that everyday acts on the ground - from the flight of slaves, to protests against the draft, the plundering of civilian homes, and civilian defiance of military occupation - reverberated at the highest levels of government. The author also offers new perspectives on major battles, illuminating how soldiers and civilians alike coped with the physical and emotional toll of the war as it grew into a massive humanitarian crisis. The union's politics of deliverance helped it to win the war. But such appeals failed to convince Confederates to accept peace on the victor's terms, ultimately sowing the seeds of postwar discord.

Alternative Title

New history of the Civil War

Subjects

• United States
• History
• HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)
• Slavery > United States > Public opinion
• 1861-1865
• Slavery > Public opinion
• Secession > Public opinion
• Secession > United States > Public opinion
• American Civil War (1861-1865)
• United States > History > Civil War, 1861-1865

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 435-487) and index.

Contents

Introduction: "We are fighting for them" -- March of redemption: First Bull Run to Fort Donelson -- Ripe for the harvest: to Shiloh -- Sacred soil: Virginia in the summer of 1862 -- The perils of occupation -- Countdown to Jubilee: Lincoln's Hundred Days -- The Emancipation Proclamation -- Fire in the rear: to Chancellorsville -- Under a scorching sun: the summer of 1863 -- Rallying point: Lincoln's ten percent plan -- Is this hell? Fort Pillow to Atlanta -- Campaign season: the election of 1864 -- Malice toward none: the Union triumphant -- Conclusion: "Deliver us from such a Moses": Andrew Johnson and the legacy of the Civil War.

Call Number

JFE 19-5391

ISBN

• 9780190860608
• 019086060X
• 9780190860615 (Updf) (canceled/invalid)
• 9780190860622 (Epub) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

• 2018028897
• 40028967000

OCLC

1042076722

Author

Varon, Elizabeth R., 1963- author.

Title

Armies of deliverance : a new history of the Civil War / Elizabeth R. Varon.

Publisher

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019]

Type of Content

text

still image

cartographic image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 435-487) and index.

Chronological Term

1861-1865

Other Form:

Online version: Varon, Elizabeth R., 1963- Armies of deliverance. New York : Oxford University Press, [2019] 9780190860615 (DLC) 2018029572

Other Standard Identifier

40028967000

Research Call Number

JFE 19-5391