Book Review

Canada and the United States

It has been decades since anyone has published a comprehensive study of dissent in the South during the Civil War. Many good works have been produced on different aspects of disaffection within the Confederate States of America, but a thorough modern study of the phenomenon in all its many aspects is desperately needed. Collections of essays such as this volume provide good material for any scholar bold enough to attempt such a task, but the shortcomings evident in this publication also indicate how challenging an exhaustive undertaking would truly be.	1
As the editor of this work, Daniel E. Sutherland offers a diverse group of community and regional studies that address some nagging questions concerning Unionism. A troublesome strain of dissent that plagued the Confederacy in almost every one of its states, Unionism remains difficult to define and even harder to explain in any terms that can be applied universally throughout the embattled South. Sutherland freely admits in his substantial introduction that his authors "offer no definitive answers . . . but they do nudge us closer to some reasonable conclusions." At the same time, "they sometimes raise new questions" (p. 15), many of which unfortunately still remain unanswered.	2
The community studies included in this volume contain perhaps the most intriguing information on Unionism within the Confederacy. Victoria E. Bynum provides convincing evidence that those who lived in Jones County, Mississippi, were actually pro-Union, not just anti-Confederacy. Their resistance led to a substantial diversion of Confederate military resources in an effort to quash them. Jonathan D. Sarris discusses how reactions to disaffection became more severe in Dahlonega, Georgia, as the Confederacy's fortunes waned. This he attributes to a concern for "law, order and stability" (p. 32) that ironically prompted a shift in focus away from legal propriety to extralegal efficacy. The strength of Lesley J. Gordon's contribution on the hanging of Unionist deserters in Kinston, North Carolina, lies in her use of pension files to assess the impact of that event on families and other associates. Sutherland contributes his own interesting analysis of Unionists in Culpepper County, Virginia, arguing that economic status alone cannot be reliably used as a predictor of Unionism in the borderland South.	3
The regional studies found in this collection vary greatly in their utility and scope. Jon L. Wakelyn concludes from his survey of pamphlets in wartime Virginia that Unionist leaders employed violent imagery to muster popular support for their cause. Noel C. Fisher more effectively details the historical roots of unionism in East Tennessee, analyzes the persistence of Unionists during the Civil War, and explains their failure to become a more significant political force during Reconstruction. A different perspective on the same region comes from B. Franklin Cooling. He widens his focus to include Kentucky as well as all of Tennessee and concludes that the use of partisan warfare by both sides led directly to violent repression and even total war by the Federals. David P. Smith provides a good survey of the efforts by the Confederacy to suppress dissent of all varieties in central and northern Texas. Louisiana, according to Donald S. Frazier, "proved to be a near perfect incubator for guerrilla warfare" (p. 170). Ethnic and economic balkanization, tangled geography, and a "casual attitude toward the law" (p. 151) laid a solid foundation for bloody partisan warfare. Robert R. Mackey sadly notes that when Confederate efforts at partisan warfare led to scorched-earth tactics by the Federals, the primary victims in Arkansas were civilians, both Unionist and Confederate.	. . .