Confederate South Carolina: True Stories of Civilians, Soldiers and the War

by Karen Stokes

The Civil War never left South Carolina, from its beginning at Fort Sumter in 1861 through the destructive, harrowing days of Sherman's march through the state in 1865.
Included here are the stories of Confederate civilians and soldiers who remained true to their cause throughout the perilous struggle. An English aristocrat risked his life to run the blockade and become one of the defenders of Charleston. The Haskells of Abbeville sent seven sons into Confederate service. Many South Carolina women made heart-rending sacrifices, including a disabled woman from Laurens County whose heroic efforts preserved Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, from wartime ravages. Author Karen Stokes details the lives of men and women whose destinies intertwined with a tragic era in Palmetto State history.

Genres: History, Military History

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2015

Reviews

[Miles Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short but worthwhile history that recounts life in South Carolina during the Civil War. Although the author takes pains to not justify slavery, her sympathies clearly lay with the people of South Carolina and not with the invading federal army.

The book's greatest weakness is that the text comprises mostly long quotes. While not problematic in the abstract, it leads to a somewhat amateurish aesthetic. Stokes' narrative is actually worth reading, and the reader is let wishing for more of the author's own analysis.

However, Stokes rightfully restores a knowledge of the hardships and deprivations endured by South Carolina civilians during the Civil War. Her anecdotes are more than mere literary garnish. A few--noting that Lowcountry elites used Asian water buffalo as draft animals--help us fundamentally reshape our knowledge of what South Carolina was actually like before 1865. In turn, this helps modern historians shape our understanding of how societies change.

[Alan Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with first person accounts, this book exhibits a sense of the war by those who watched events taking place. Many books on the Civil War view it on grander scales of which politics and military affairs color the narrative. There is no doubt that the sympathies are southern bred, but as a lover of history I found the book interesting as I have mainly read about the political movements and the battles of this tragic war. I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in those times, as part of their overall study.

[Tara Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book with lots of great information. It presents a unique account of the other side of the American Civil War and the outrages that the Southern citizens had endure.