The Confederacy

by Charles P. Roland

The Confederacy was never single-minded. From the fateful year of 1861 until Appomattox, the South was a complex of heroism and cowardice, grief and frivolity, nationalism and state rights. But at the same time the Southern nation underwent a complete career from birth through maturity to death.

In The Confederacy Charles P. Roland is faithful to both the larger career and the internal complexity. Paying careful attention to President Davis' struggle against dividing forces within, the author skillfully narrates the attempt of the Confederacy to wage total war against superior forces. All the poignant events and conditions are the formation of the government, the upper South's final commitment to the cause, the doomed attempts to combat the Northern blockade at home and Northern diplomacy overseas, an agrarian economy's heroic defiance of an industrial enemy, the desperate measures by which the Davis government tried to sustain the Confederacy, and, at last, the dissolution and flight of the administration in 1865.

With accuracy, sensitivity, and balance, Mr. Roland develops the epic themes of his story against a background of vivid historical detail and re-creates the Confederacy with a tragic splendor—the prime quality of its surviving image among Southerners.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Civil War Confederacy, Civil War

228 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1960

About the author

Charles Pierce Roland is an American historian and professor emeritus of the University of Kentucky who is known for his research field of the American South and the U.S. Civil War.

Reviews

[Cameron Barham]

“In 1776 a British observer wrote that American independence would be followed by a bitter contest between the North and South because of incompatible economic systems; that the more numerous Northerners would take control of the government; and that the South would ultimately resort to arms and be conquered.”, p. 6

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have no idea where I picked this book up at (probably a Goodwill book sale or library sale) but I am glad I did. This is an excellent look at the Confederacy and why it lost the War Between the States (there has never been a Civil War in America...a civil war is a war between two or more factions fighting for control of a government...the Confederacy did not want control of the U.S. government, they wanted to secede, which was a right granted when the states ratified the Constitution). The South fought valiantly against far larger and far more well-equipped forces, but they were doomed from the start from a lack of industry (it was an agricultural society that purchased all of their machinery from the North or Europe), which meant that the North had a huge jumpstart in manufacturing guns, ammunition, cannons, ships, plus all of the day to day items that we so often overlook. This was compounded by the fact that there were far fewer men in the South to build armies with, a logistical inability to wage offensive warfare to consolidate gains, and a glaring weakness in the very thing they were fighting for...states rights. States often acted as separate entities and often failed to fully support various policies of the Confederate government that they disagreed with. Interestingly, it also offers a parallel to our day as it reviews the damage done by a move to paper money and subsequently hyperinflation, a lesson we would do well to learn in our day. This book does a better job than I have probably ever seen of objectively evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederacy. It also documents well a rebuttal to a common error in understanding...that the war was fought over slavery. Slavery was a peripheral issue that was finally used as a strategic advantage only several years into the war. An outstanding book, well researched and well reasoned.

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a military history of the Civil War, but a political and diplomatic history of the Confederacy. Written over fifty years ago, it is refreshingly free of political correctness and the usual progressive cant of academic historians of today. Professor Roland calls it as he sees it. The Confederacy was hobbled by internal dissension and poor diplomacy. The writing is lucid and well researched. It is a must for any serious study of the period.

[Monte Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of the Confederacy. It does not go into any detail on the battles but instead, focuses on what was happening politically and socially. It is a decent beginning point but does not go into real detail. It does go into many facts not common knowledge if one is a student on the Civil War and focuses on the battles. It is easy to read, but you will need other sources if you want much detail.