What do you think?
Rate this book
Civil War America
When Sherman Marched North from the Sea: Resistance on the Confederate Home Front
Home front and battle front merged in 1865 when General William T. Sherman occupied Savannah and then marched his armies north through the Carolinas. Although much has been written about the military aspects of Sherman's March, Jacqueline Campbell reveals a more complex story. Integrating evidence from Northern soldiers and from Southern civilians, black and white, male and female, Campbell demonstrates the importance of culture for determining the limits of war and how it is fought.
Sherman's March was an invasion of both geographical and psychological space. The Union army viewed the Southern landscape as military terrain. But when they brought war into Southern households, Northern soldiers were frequently astounded by the fierceness with which many white Southern women defended their homes. Campbell argues that in the household-centered South, Confederate women saw both ideological and material reasons to resist. While some Northern soldiers lauded this bravery, others regarded such behavior as inappropriate and unwomanly.
Campbell also investigates the complexities behind African Americans' decisions either to stay on the plantation or to flee with Union troops. Black Southerners' delight at the coming of the army of "emancipation" often turned to terror as Yankees plundered their homes and assaulted black women.
Ultimately, When Sherman Marched North from the Sea calls into question postwar rhetoric that represented the heroic defense of the South as a male prerogative and praised Confederate women for their "feminine" qualities of sentimentality, patience, and endurance. Campbell suggests that political considerations underlie this interpretation--that Yankee depredations seemed more outrageous when portrayed as an attack on defenseless women and children. Campbell convincingly restores these women to their role as vital players in the fight for a Confederate nation, as models of self-assertion rather than passive self-sacrifice.
<!--copy for pb
Home front and battle front merged in 1865 when General William T. Sherman occupied Savannah and then marched his armies north through the Carolinas. When Union soldiers brought war into Southern households, Northern soldiers were frequently astounded by the fierceness with which many white Southern women defended their homes. Campbell convincingly restores these women to their role as vital players in the fight for a Confederate nation, as models of self-assertion rather than passive self-sacrifice.
Campbell also investigates the complexities behind African Americans' decisions either to stay on the plantation or to flee with Union troops. Black Southerners' delight at the coming of the army of "emancipation" often turned to terror as Yankees plundered their homes and assaulted black women.
-->
Sherman's March was an invasion of both geographical and psychological space. The Union army viewed the Southern landscape as military terrain. But when they brought war into Southern households, Northern soldiers were frequently astounded by the fierceness with which many white Southern women defended their homes. Campbell argues that in the household-centered South, Confederate women saw both ideological and material reasons to resist. While some Northern soldiers lauded this bravery, others regarded such behavior as inappropriate and unwomanly.
Campbell also investigates the complexities behind African Americans' decisions either to stay on the plantation or to flee with Union troops. Black Southerners' delight at the coming of the army of "emancipation" often turned to terror as Yankees plundered their homes and assaulted black women.
Ultimately, When Sherman Marched North from the Sea calls into question postwar rhetoric that represented the heroic defense of the South as a male prerogative and praised Confederate women for their "feminine" qualities of sentimentality, patience, and endurance. Campbell suggests that political considerations underlie this interpretation--that Yankee depredations seemed more outrageous when portrayed as an attack on defenseless women and children. Campbell convincingly restores these women to their role as vital players in the fight for a Confederate nation, as models of self-assertion rather than passive self-sacrifice.
<!--copy for pb
Home front and battle front merged in 1865 when General William T. Sherman occupied Savannah and then marched his armies north through the Carolinas. When Union soldiers brought war into Southern households, Northern soldiers were frequently astounded by the fierceness with which many white Southern women defended their homes. Campbell convincingly restores these women to their role as vital players in the fight for a Confederate nation, as models of self-assertion rather than passive self-sacrifice.
Campbell also investigates the complexities behind African Americans' decisions either to stay on the plantation or to flee with Union troops. Black Southerners' delight at the coming of the army of "emancipation" often turned to terror as Yankees plundered their homes and assaulted black women.
-->
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
4 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 5, 2008
Jacqueline Glass Campbell’s "When Sherman Marched North From the Sea" is a work that seeks to examine Civil War General William Sherman’s march through the Southern States from the Atlantic Ocean while putting the accounts and behaviors of the people involved in a social and political context. Campbell, while providing a vigorous narrative of the events of the march, emphasizes questions regarding the role of Southern women and the roles they played on the home front-turned-battlefront as well as the relationship between Unionist soldiers and the Africans they were charged to “free”. Campbell strays from traditional historical accounts of Sherman’s March by evaluating the broader theme of war and how it culturally impacts nineteenth century society.
She examines the impact the campaign had on Southern women, and how that impact was fueled by gender ideology from both the North and the South; how it affected slaves in the south that had to choose between an occupying force and the freedom-hindering South; and finally the Union soldiers themselves and how they struggled to combat the new social and cultural values of the South that produced such a resistance from the women of the South.
This review will argue that putting the march into a broader social context, such as Campbell does, is crucial toward understanding and correctly analyzing the antebellum and Civil War America. However, in examining the march, the author displays a concealed disdain for General Sherman and his soldiers’ actions.
The book neatly divides Sherman’s march into distinct categories depending on the state that the soldiers are occupying, starting with the presidential Christmas gift of Savannah and continuing on through North Carolina. The bulk of the book focuses on the resistance of Southern women toward Union soldiers and Campbell speaks directly to the heart of the issue in brilliant fashion. The difference between Northern and Southern women is key to understanding the resistance so often distributed to Sherman’s forces. Gender ideology was fueled in different sections of the nation by different – oftentimes drastically different – things.
In a way, Southern women were more equal to their male counterparts. To the culture of the South, it was the woman’s choice to remain subdued and obedient. When the males went away to war, this cultural distinction created a smooth transition for the females left behind, as they were conceived and charged with carrying on the duties of the household, with the same derived authority of a man. This differs from the cultural portrayal of Northern women and fueled the resistance toward Union soldiers in the South. Southern women were by no means – and did not see themselves as – weak and dependent.
Northern women were not socially constrained due to choice, but by duty. They were the moral guardians of society.
“The industrializing and urbanizing areas of the North encouraged the development of a separate sphere of ideology molded around the idea of burgeoning middle class families. Women assumed the role of moral guardian to provide stability and shelter for men involved in the increasingly hostile world of business and politics (12).”
This difference coupled with the expectations of the male Union soldiers based on their Northern values created the striking contrasts of the resistant “she-devils” of the Southern home front.
Campbell claims throughout the work that Sherman’s march did more psychological damage than physical damage. This remains especially true for the Southern slave population in the path of Sherman’s Army. Slaves were forced to choose from depicting the Union soldiers as freedom-enabling saviors or an enemy worse than the Southern secessionists, and many times, they chose the latter. Campbell continues the argument of psychological destruction in her examination of the burning of Columbia.
“…the destruction of Columbia gives us a deeper insight into the complex interactions between civilians and soldiers, blacks and whites … Sherman’s invasion caused a downward spiral from demoralization to disaffection (59).”
Throughout the psychological damage of the march and of the warfare, Campbell argues that the women of the South, by being ever-involved on the battlefront, clinged even more strongly to the Confederate cause. After the war was over, the questions that were asked to understand the role of Southern women in the war failed to grasps this concept. There were dueling ideas involved. Southern masculinity suffered a blow after the war. One thing that was done to bolster the reputation of such was to act as “protectors” to Southern women. Over time, the driving force behind the Southern women’s actions was lost. The Southern women were made out to be victims, rather than fearless defenders of Southern culture, in order to glorify Southern masculinity. Southern honor ruled the day.
Campbell does an excellent job of putting Sherman’s march into a broader social context. She is also careful in her prose to present a comfortable read to both the general public as well as academia. Her examination of the psychological damage of the invasion is key to her argument, along with the detailed portrayal of the effect on Southern women, slaves, as well as the Union soldiers she seems to hold in contempt along with the South.
She examines the impact the campaign had on Southern women, and how that impact was fueled by gender ideology from both the North and the South; how it affected slaves in the south that had to choose between an occupying force and the freedom-hindering South; and finally the Union soldiers themselves and how they struggled to combat the new social and cultural values of the South that produced such a resistance from the women of the South.
This review will argue that putting the march into a broader social context, such as Campbell does, is crucial toward understanding and correctly analyzing the antebellum and Civil War America. However, in examining the march, the author displays a concealed disdain for General Sherman and his soldiers’ actions.
The book neatly divides Sherman’s march into distinct categories depending on the state that the soldiers are occupying, starting with the presidential Christmas gift of Savannah and continuing on through North Carolina. The bulk of the book focuses on the resistance of Southern women toward Union soldiers and Campbell speaks directly to the heart of the issue in brilliant fashion. The difference between Northern and Southern women is key to understanding the resistance so often distributed to Sherman’s forces. Gender ideology was fueled in different sections of the nation by different – oftentimes drastically different – things.
In a way, Southern women were more equal to their male counterparts. To the culture of the South, it was the woman’s choice to remain subdued and obedient. When the males went away to war, this cultural distinction created a smooth transition for the females left behind, as they were conceived and charged with carrying on the duties of the household, with the same derived authority of a man. This differs from the cultural portrayal of Northern women and fueled the resistance toward Union soldiers in the South. Southern women were by no means – and did not see themselves as – weak and dependent.
Northern women were not socially constrained due to choice, but by duty. They were the moral guardians of society.
“The industrializing and urbanizing areas of the North encouraged the development of a separate sphere of ideology molded around the idea of burgeoning middle class families. Women assumed the role of moral guardian to provide stability and shelter for men involved in the increasingly hostile world of business and politics (12).”
This difference coupled with the expectations of the male Union soldiers based on their Northern values created the striking contrasts of the resistant “she-devils” of the Southern home front.
Campbell claims throughout the work that Sherman’s march did more psychological damage than physical damage. This remains especially true for the Southern slave population in the path of Sherman’s Army. Slaves were forced to choose from depicting the Union soldiers as freedom-enabling saviors or an enemy worse than the Southern secessionists, and many times, they chose the latter. Campbell continues the argument of psychological destruction in her examination of the burning of Columbia.
“…the destruction of Columbia gives us a deeper insight into the complex interactions between civilians and soldiers, blacks and whites … Sherman’s invasion caused a downward spiral from demoralization to disaffection (59).”
Throughout the psychological damage of the march and of the warfare, Campbell argues that the women of the South, by being ever-involved on the battlefront, clinged even more strongly to the Confederate cause. After the war was over, the questions that were asked to understand the role of Southern women in the war failed to grasps this concept. There were dueling ideas involved. Southern masculinity suffered a blow after the war. One thing that was done to bolster the reputation of such was to act as “protectors” to Southern women. Over time, the driving force behind the Southern women’s actions was lost. The Southern women were made out to be victims, rather than fearless defenders of Southern culture, in order to glorify Southern masculinity. Southern honor ruled the day.
Campbell does an excellent job of putting Sherman’s march into a broader social context. She is also careful in her prose to present a comfortable read to both the general public as well as academia. Her examination of the psychological damage of the invasion is key to her argument, along with the detailed portrayal of the effect on Southern women, slaves, as well as the Union soldiers she seems to hold in contempt along with the South.
August 9, 2024
Look, I'll be honest - I read this because I read none of it when I needed to for my Civil War and Reconstruction college class in 2013.
It is a perfectly good academic text that deepened my understanding and provided a different lens from which to view the waning moments of the war. Was it a fun read? Not especially, but it was quick.
It is a perfectly good academic text that deepened my understanding and provided a different lens from which to view the waning moments of the war. Was it a fun read? Not especially, but it was quick.
November 28, 2018
Campbell truly makes the last days of the Civil War come alive in this book, giving a nuanced picture of the ordinary and flawed people involved in Sherman's campaign. She draws on letters and memoirs from the period to build a vivid picture of the interactions between Union soldiers, white Confederate women, and southern African Americans. She dispels the idea of women passively waiting at home, including detailed examples of how southern women saw themselves as crucial actors in the survival of the Confederacy (and how their experiences led to resentment that extended well past the end of the war). The ambivalence of ordinary soldiers participating in the campaign, especially as they came to terms with psychological warfare, is also well-described. While Campbell could have given more space to African American voices from this period, she fully acknowledges the ugly reality of their treatment during this campaign, and the consequences for them in the postwar years.
Even though this book focuses on a specific story from the Civil War, I definitely think the takeaways on ideological clashes, class conflict, and historical memory/revisionism are applicable to modern American readers. Even when dealing with thorny issues of gender and racial politics, it remains really readable. If only more history books were written like this!
Even though this book focuses on a specific story from the Civil War, I definitely think the takeaways on ideological clashes, class conflict, and historical memory/revisionism are applicable to modern American readers. Even when dealing with thorny issues of gender and racial politics, it remains really readable. If only more history books were written like this!
March 23, 2022
A very good short work on women in wartime during Sherman's March.
April 15, 2014
Favorite of the semester thus far.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews