Review

General Books

This book grew out of a gathering of scholars who sought to present and exchange views on New York State's role in the Civil War. The gathering was sponsored by the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, a branch of the New York State Education Department. The symposium brought together recognized scholars from the Lincoln Forum, Civil War reenactors, Civil War Roundtable members, students, local historians, educators, and history enthusiasts. This august group believed that they had ample justification to center their investigation on the Empire State. As the most populous state during the Civil War, New York was central to the Northern victory. It not only provided the most men and material but served as the Union's economic center as well. Of equal importance, the Empire State was a nucleus for the increasing diversity of the nation: immigrant groups, abolitionists, and an emerging black community. Arguably, New York was a microcosm of the social and political currents that dominated this era of American history.	1
The symposium chose a representative selection of topics by examining the role of women, blacks, Native Americans, and European immigrants within the State. Each group's perspectives on, and reactions to, the War was the center of an investigation. Additionally, the scholarly gathering detailed the difficulties Abraham Lincoln faced in keeping New York favorable to his policies. (He had carried New York by a tissue thin margin of 50.417 percent.) A complete list of the chapters and their presenters reveals the scope and depth of State of the Union: "Housekeeping on Its Own Terms: Abraham Lincoln in New York," by Harold Holzer; "The Volcano under the City: The Significance of Draft Rioting in New York City and State, July, 1863," by Iver Bernstein; "What's Gender Got to Do with It? New York in the Age of the Civil War," by Lillian Serene Williams; "In the Shadow of American Indian Removal: The Iroquois in the Civil War," by Laurance M. Hauptman; "Above the Law: Arbitrary Arrest, Habeas Corpus, and Freedom of the Press in New York: A Dialogue," by Joseph M. Bellacosa and Frank J. Williams; "New York's 'Andersonville': The Elmira Military Prison," by Lonnie R. Speer; and "The Continuing Conflict: New York and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson," by distinguished scholar, Hans Trefousse.	2
The book adds needed perspectives to traditional Civil War history. The vast majority of literature to which this reviewer has been exposed has concentrated on battles and biographies. Nearly a century and a half of histories have touched only lightly on the roles of women, Native Americans, immigrants, the surprising depth and complexity of the draft riots, and the North's treatment of prisoners. To culminate this marvelous menu, Hans Trefousse draws compelling comparisons and contrasts between the Andrew Johnson and the William Clinton impeachment trials. State of the Union implements its task in grand style. Enticing epigrams expose the tensions of the times and lure the reader on. We learn that the uprisings of July, 1863, for example, had many motives. Bernstein contends that the Irish thought they were being unfairly drafted and took out their vengeance on the blacks. Others wanted New York to secede from the Union over conscription, and some believed that the Grand Old Party hoped to have the Irish taken to war so they could "fill their places with cheap labor." Bernstein concludes that the upshot of the Volcano "increased the power of Tamany Hall and added to racial supremacy."	3
Women's attitudes toward the Great Conflict were quite different from the current outlook on war. When one woman's fiancé announced that he "bought his way out of the draft" to be with her, the lady responded, "you just purchased your way out of a marriage. I am not marrying a coward!" In the end, Lillian Williams contends that "both blacks and women saw the War as an opportunity to increase their freedoms." The convincing details she presents expand upon an often overlooked dimension of the Civil War. Laurance Hauptman asserts that "Indians fought like bulldogs" during the Civil War. Native Americans believed that Southerners were "devilish and rebellious" with the noted Iroquois, Ely Parker, claiming that "Southerners do not live as well as the Tonawada." Parker's seldom-mentioned role at Appomattox is also detailed. This Native American used his ample talents to draw up the Articles of Surrender that General Lee signed on April 9, 1865. A close look at Elmira, the Union's facility for imprisoned Confederates, demonstrates that its inhumanity matched the South's. Provisions were just enough to "feed disease," and the death ratio was "little different" from its counterpart, Andersonville. Hans Trefousse's comparisons of impeachment motives and machinations for two presidents more than a century separated are a succulent plum that concludes the book. In both cases, "ostensible charges hid real differences between Congress and the President." In 1868, Reconstruction motives drove impeachment, while in 1998, political antagonisms between the Republican right and Clinton goaded the judicial proceedings.	4
State of the Union is eminently teachable. When I use it, I will divide my class into small groups, each being assigned one of the book's pithy, poignant vignettes to investigate and to present to the class. Each epigram is about 15–20 pages, short enough for sustained excavation and balanced enough for lively exchanges. A second tutorial tack would be to employ the "fishbowl" strategy. I would have each small group research and organize a chapter for presentation, sending one member to a center circle where the issues are discussed inside the larger loop of the remaining class. I am ordering State of the Union for my fall classes.	5
St. Cloud State University Mark Welter

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