Bill Arp's Peace Papers: Columns on War and Reconstruction, 1861-1873

The aLinkhorna letter, reprinted in many Southern newspapers, was wildly popular across the South, and Smith followed it with dozens of other similarly comic pieces over the next few years, all signed by aBill Arp.a During the war he mocked Lincoln and praised the bravery and sacrifice of the Confederates, but he also turned a disapproving eye on those Southernersafrom draft dodgers to Georgia governor Joe Brownawhose actions he viewed as detrimental to the war effort. Following the war he turned his attention to criticizing Reconstruction efforts to reshape Southern race relations. Later Smith collected the best of these pieces in Bill Arpas Peace Papers, a valuable example of the Southern conservative perspective on the Civil War and Reconstruction era.

This Southern Classics edition makes Smithas witticisms as Arp available once more, augmented with a new introduction by Georgia historian David B. Parker, which places the writings and their author in historical and literary context.