By Elizabeth R. Varon
Loyal Americans marched off to war in 1861 not to conquer
the South but to liberate it. So argues Elizabeth R. Varon in Armies of
Deliverance, a sweeping narrative of the Civil War and a bold new
interpretation of Union and Confederate war aims. Northerners imagined the war
as a crusade to deliver the Southern masses from slaveholder domination and to
bring democracy, prosperity, and education to the region. As the war escalated,
Lincoln and his allies built the case that emancipation would secure military
victory and benefit the North and South alike. The theme of deliverance was
essential in mobilizing a Unionist coalition of Northerners and
anti-Confederate Southerners.
Confederates, fighting to establish an independent slaveholding republic, were
determined to preempt, discredit, and silence Yankee appeals to the Southern
masses. In their quest for political unity Confederates relentlessly played up
two themes: Northern barbarity and Southern victimization. Casting the Union
army as ruthless conquerors, Confederates argued that the emancipation of
blacks was synonymous with the subjugation of the white South.
Interweaving military and social history, Varon shows that everyday acts on the
ground--from the flight of slaves, to protests against the draft, the
plundering of civilian homes, and civilian defiance of military
occupation--reverberated at the highest levels of government. Varon also offers
new perspectives on major battles, illuminating how soldiers and civilians
alike coped with the physical and emotional toll of the war as it grew into a
massive humanitarian crisis.
The Union's politics of deliverance helped it to win the war. But such appeals
failed to convince Confederates to accept peace on the victor's terms,
ultimately sowing the seeds of postwar discord. Armies of Deliverance
offers innovative insights on the conflict for those steeped in Civil War history
and novices alike.
About the Author
Elizabeth R. Varon is Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American
History at the University of Virginia. She is the author of numerous
award-winning books, including Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of
Elizabeth Van Lew, A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy (OUP,
2003), Disunion!: The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859, and Appomattox:
Victory, Defeat and Freedom at the End of the Civil War (OUP, 2013).
ISBN 978-0190860608, Oxford University Press, © 2019,
Hardcover, 528 pages, Maps, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes &
Index. $34.95. To purchase this book click HERE.
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