Ghosts of the Confederacy Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South, 1865-1913

by Foster, Gaines M.

• ISBN13: 9780195042139
• ISBN10: 0195042131
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1987-04-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

After Lee and Grant met at Appomatox Court House in 1865 to sign the document ending the long and bloody Civil War, the South at last had to face defeat as the dream of a Confederate nation melted into the Lost Cause. Through an examination of memoirs, personal papers, and postwar Confederaterituals such as memorial day observances, monument unveilings, and veterans' reunions, Ghosts of the Confederacy probes into how white southerners adjusted to and interpreted their defeat and explores the cultural implications of a central event in American history. Foster argues that, contrary tosouthern folklore, southerners actually accepted their loss, rapidly embraced both reunion and a New South, and helped to foster sectional reconciliation and an emerging social order. He traces southerners' fascination with the Lost Cause--showing that it was rooted as much in social tensionsresulting from rapid change as it was in the legacy of defeat--and demonstrates that the public celebration of the war helped to make the South a deferential and conservative society. Although the ghosts of the Confederacy still haunted the New South, Foster concludes that they did little to shapebehavior in it--white southerners, in celebrating the war, ultimately trivialized its memory, reduced its cultural power, and failed to derive any special wisdom from defeat.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction	p. 3
After Appomattox: the Trauma of Defeat	p. 11
After Appomattox: the Scars of Defeat	p. 22
Ceremonial Bereavement: Memorial Activities	p. 36
Ghost Dance: the Failed Revitalization Movement of the Virginians	p. 47
Toward a Reunited Nation: Signs of Reconciliation	p. 63
Toward a New South: Social Tensions	p. 79
the Confederate Tradition in Transition: Developments in the Eighties	p. 88
the Confederate Celebration: Its Organizational Structure	p. 104
the Confederate Celebration: Its Interpretation of the War	p. 115
the Confederate Celebration: Its Ritual Activities	p. 127
the South Vindicated: the Spanish-American War and Its Aftermath	p. 145
Changes in the Celebration: the Declining Importance of the Confederate Tradition	p. 163
Academic Missionaries: the Challenge of the Professionals	p. 180
Conclusion	p. 193
Frequently Used Abbreviations	p. 199
Notes	p. 201
	p. 273
	p. 274
Selected Bibliography	p. 276
Index	p. 299
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