Guerrillas, Unionists, and Violence on the Confederate Home Front

by Daniel E. Sutherland (Editor)

Until recently, this localized violence was largely ignored, scholars focusing instead on large-scale operations of the war―the decisions and actions of generals and presidents. But as Daniel Sutherland reminds us, the impact of battles and elections cannot be properly understood without an examination of the struggle for survival on the home front, of lives lived in the atmosphere created by war. Sutherland gathers eleven essays by such noted Civil War scholars as Michael Fellman, Donald Frazier, Noel Fisher, and B. F. Cooling, each one exploring the Confederacy's internal war in a different state. All help to broaden our view of the complexity of war and to provide us with a clear picture of war's consequences, its impact on communities, homes, and families. This strong collection of essays delves deeply into what Daniel Sutherland calls "the desperate side of war," enriching our understanding of a turbulent and divisive period in American history.

Genres: Civil War, American Civil War

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1999

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent narrative highlighting the violence between noncombatants and non-uniformed combatants in the South. Daniel Sutherland put together subject-driven chapters written by university professors, history researchers, and writers. The narrative showed the internal atrocities committed by unsanctioned militias, bands of violent deserters, Unionist and secessionist agitators, vigilantism, and guerrilla warfare that preyed on civilians defending both ideologies. Confederate irregulars engaged in warfare against Federal troops.

Raiders like Morgan, Forrest, and Frank Armstrong, and others combined with local partisan chieftains to provide the only positive Confederate response to the relentless advance of the Union enemy. pg 125

while violence directed was the towards pro-Confederate civilians was from Unionist militias.

Counterinsurgency, pacification, eviction, exile, confiscation of property, physical destruction, and the hated Oath of Allegiance to the United States all became part of the Union tool kit for enforcing submission. pg 124

The narrative went into detail of the internal civil war in rural communities throughout the South to include northern Georgia, Lenoir County in North Carolina, Culpeper County in northern Virginia, East Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Civilians were targeted by harassment and intimidation, pillaging, stealing, arson, murder; troops were targeted in bushwacking irregular warfare operations with sharpshooters and ambushes. Aims at disrupting military movement included cutting telegraph lines, pulling up railways, and burning bridges.

This was an excellent history of irregular warfare and violence towards civilians in the South. I would recommend this anyone interested in an overlooked topic of the American Civil War. Thanks!