Ordeal by Fire

by McPherson, James M.

• ISBN13: 9780070458420
• ISBN10: 0070458421
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-09-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill College

Summary

Written by a leading Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, this text describes the social, economic, political, and ideological conflicts that led to a unique, tragic, and transitional event in American history. The third edition incorporates recent scholarship and addresses renewed areas of interest in the Civil War/Reconstruction era including the motivations and experiences of common soldiers and the role of women in the war effort.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	xvii	(2)
Preface to the First Edition	xix
Prologue: The Setting of Conflict	1	(2)
PART ONE The Coming of War	3	(148)
ONE American Modernization, 1800-1860	5	(21)
Changes in the Economy	5	(6)
Causes of American Modernization	11	(2)
The Modernizing Ethos	13	(2)
Modernization and Reform	15	(6)
Modernization and Social Tensions	21	(2)
Political Parties and Modernization	23	(3)
TWO The Antebellum South	26	(16)
The Southern Economy	26	(8)
Slavery in the American South	34	(8)
THREE The Ideological Conflict over Slavery	42	(15)
The Antislavery Movement	42	(5)
Antislavery and Modernization	47	(2)
The Proslavery Counterattack	49	(3)
The Cavalier Image	52	(3)
Slavery and National Politics	55	(2)
FOUR Texas, Mexico, and the Compromise of 1850	57	(18)
The Annexation of Texas	57	(2)
Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War	59	(3)
The Wilmot Proviso	62	(3)
The Election of 1848	65	(2)
The Compromise of 1850	67	(6)
The Election of 1852	73	(2)
FIVE Filibusterers, Fugitives, and Nativists	75	(15)
Manifest Destiny and Slavery in the 1850s	75	(4)
The Fugitive Slave Law	79	(5)
Free Soilers and Free Blacks	84	(2)
Nativism and the Rise of the Know-Nothings	86	(4)
SIX Kansas and the Rise of the Republican Party	90	(12)
The Kansas-Nebraska Act	90	(3)
The Rise of the Republican Party	93	(2)
Bleeding Kansas	95	(4)
The Election of 1856	99	(3)
SEVEN The Deepening Crisis, 1857-1859	102	(15)
The Dred Scott Decision	102	(5)
The Lecompton Constitution	107	(2)
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates	109	(3)
Portents of Armageddon, 1858-1859	112	(5)
EIGHT The Critical Year, 1859-1860	117	(14)
John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid	117	(4)
The Democratic Party Breaks in Two	121	(1)
The Republicans Nominate Lincoln	122	(2)
The Campaign	124	(5)
The Outcome	129	(2)
NINE Secession and the Coming of War	131	(20)
Secession of the Lower South	131	(2)
Secession: Revolution or Counterrevolution?	133	(4)
The Northern Response to Secession	137	(4)
Launching the Confederacy	141	(1)
The Upper South	142	(1)
Lincoln Takes the Helm	143	(1)
Fort Sumter and the End of Peace	144	(7)
PART TWO The Civil War	151	(338)
TEN A Brothers' War: The Upper South	153	(14)
The Conflict Takes Shape	153	(2)
The First Clashes	155	(1)
The Eastern Border States: Maryland and Delaware	156	(1)
The Western Border States: Kentucky and Missouri	157	(5)
West Virginia	162	(3)
East Tennessee	165	(2)
ELEVEN Mobilizing for War	167	(16)
Organizing the Armed Forces	167	(10)
The Navies and the Blockade	177	(6)
TWELVE The Balance Sheet of War	183	(25)
Manpower and Resources	184	(2)
Confederate Advantages	186	(5)
Confederate Guerrillas	191	(2)
Men and Arms	193	(8)
Financing the War: The Confederacy	201	(2)
Financing the War: The Union	203	(5)
THIRTEEN The War at Home and Abroad	208	(14)
The First Battle of Bull Run	208	(5)
McClellan and the Army of the Potomac	213	(4)
Europe and the War	217	(1)
The King Cotton Illusion	218	(1)
The Blockade and Foreign Relations	219	(2)
The Trent Affair	221	(1)
FOURTEEN The Springtime of Northern Hope	222	(13)
Forts Henry and Donelson	223	(3)
The Battle of Shiloh	226	(4)
Other Union Triumphs in the West	230	(5)
FIFTEEN Jackson and Lee Strike Back	235	(25)
The Peninsula and Valley Campaigns in Virginia	235	(8)
The Seven Days Battles	243	(7)
The Union Army and Total War	250	(4)
The Second Battle of Bull Run	254	(6)
SIXTEEN Slavery and the War: Northern Politics, 1861-1862	260	(19)
War Aims and Politics in the North	260	(4)
The Slavery Issue	264	(7)
The Copperheads	271	(3)
The Union Army and Emancipation	274	(1)
Colonization of Freed Slaves	275	(2)
Lincoln's Circumlocution on Emancipation, August-September 1862	277	(2)
SEVENTEEN The First Turning Point: Antietam and Emancipation	279	(23)
The Battle of Antietam	279	(8)
The Confederate Invasion of Kentucky	287	(3)
The Battles of Iuka and Corinth	290	(2)
The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation	292	(1)
Lincoln and Civil Liberties	292	(2)
The Elections of 1862 in the North	294	(3)
The Removal of McClellan and Buell from Command	297	(3)
Europe and the War, 1862	300	(2)
EIGHTEEN The Winter of Northern Discontent	302	(20)
The Battle of Fredericksburg	302	(1)
A Crisis of Confidence in the North	303	(3)
The War in the West: The Battle of Stones River	306	(3)
The War in the West: Vicksburg	309	(6)
Joe Hooker and the "Finest Army on the Planet"	315	(3)
The Battle of Chancellorsville	318	(4)
NINETEEN The Second Turning Point: Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga	322	(21)
The Gettysburg Campaign	322	(2)
The Battle of Gettysburg	324	(6)
Union Victories in the West	330	(4)
The Battle of Chickamauga	334	(2)
The Battles of Chattanooga	336	(4)
The War and Foreign Policy, 1863	340	(3)
TWENTY War Issues and Politics in 1863	343	(25)
Vallandigham and the Copperhead Drive for Power	343	(3)
Black Men in Blue	346	(7)
Conscription in the North	353	(2)
A Socioeconomic Profile of Civil War Soldiers	355	(2)
Draft Resistance and Riots in the North	357	(1)
Emancipation Confirmed	358	(2)
Political Disaffection within the Confederacy	360	(4)
Habeas Corpus and States' Rights in the Confederacy	364	(1)
Opposition Leaders	364	(1)
The Disadvantages of No-Party Politics	365	(3)
TWENTY-ONE Behind the Lines	368	(25)
The Economic Impact of the War in the North	368	(8)
Economic Discontent in the South	376	(4)
Trading with the Enemy	380	(5)
Disease and Medical Care in Civil War Armies	385	(6)
Women and Medical Care	391	(2)
TWENTY-TWO Wartime Reconstruction and the Freedpeople	393	(17)
Emancipation	394	(2)
The Status of the Freedpeople	396	(7)
Political Reconstruction	403	(5)
Reconstruction and Presidential Politics	408	(2)
TWENTY-THREE Military Stalemate, 1864	410	(26)
Union Military Strategy in 1864	411	(2)
Failure of the Auxiliary Campaigns	413	(1)
The Wilderness and Spotsylvania	414	(6)
From Spotsylvania to Cold Harbor	420	(3)
The Shenandoah Valley and Petersburg	423	(6)
The Atlanta Campaign, May-July 1864	429	(7)
TWENTY-FOUR The Third Turning Point: The Election of 1864	436	(23)
Peace Feelers	436	(4)
The Democrats Nominate McClellan	440	(1)
Mobile Bay	441	(1)
The Fall of Atlanta	442	(1)
Sheridan in the Valley	443	(3)
The Copperhead Issue in the 1864 Election	446	(3)
The Prisoners of War Issue	449	(7)
The Reelection of Lincoln	456	(3)
TWENTY-FIVE The End of the Confederacy	459	(30)
From Atlanta to the Sea	459	(4)
The Battles of Franklin and Nashville	463	(3)
Adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment	466	(1)
Desertion from the Confederate Armies	467	(1)
The Fall of Fort Fisher and the Failure of Peace Negotiations	468	(3)
Sherman's March through the Carolinas	471	(4)
Destruction of Confederate Resources	475	(1)
The Reconstruction Issue in the Winter of 1864-1865	476	(1)
The Confederate Decision to Arm Slaves	477	(1)
From Petersburg to Appomattox	478	(4)
The Assassination of Lincoln and the End of the War	482	(5)
The Imprint of War	487	(2)
PART THREE Reconstruction	489	(118)
TWENTY-SIX The Problems of Peace	491	(19)
The Aftermath of War	491	(5)
Presidential Reconstruction, 1865	496	(7)
Land and Labor in the Postwar South	503	(7)
TWENTY-SEVEN The Origins of "Radical" Reconstruction	510	(11)
The Schism between President and Congress	510	(3)
The Fourteenth Amendment	513	(2)
The Election of 1866	515	(2)
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867	517	(4)
TWENTY-EIGHT Reconstruction and the Crisis of Impeachment	521	(14)
Johnson's Continued Defiance of Congress	521	(5)
The Impeachment and Acquittal of Johnson	526	(3)
The Supreme Court and Reconstruction	529	(1)
Readmission of Southern States	530	(5)
TWENTY-NINE The First Grant Administration	535	(13)
The Election of 1868	535	(5)
The Fifteenth Amendment	540	(1)
Grant in the White House	541	(4)
Civil Service Reform	545	(3)
THIRTY The Southern Question, 1869-1872	548	(18)
Southern Republicans: Blacks, Carpetbaggers, and Scalawags	548	(5)
Southern Republicans in Power	553	(3)
The Klan Issue	556	(4)
The Election of 1872	560	(6)
THIRTY-ONE Social and Economic Reconstruction	566	(15)
Education in the South	566	(4)
The New Order in Southern Agriculture	570	(6)
Postwar Commercial and Industrial Developments	576	(5)
THIRTY-TWO The Retreat from Reconstruction	581	(14)
Reconstruction Unravels, 1873-1876	581	(6)
The Election of 1876	587	(3)
The Compromise of 1877	590	(5)
THIRTY-THREE The New South	595	(12)
The Persistence of the Southern Question	595	(4)
Ideology and Reality in the New South	599	(6)
Farewell to the Bloody Shirt	605	(2)
Epilogue	607	(3)
Glossary	610	(3)
Appendix	613	(20)
United States and Confederate States Constitutions	613	(2)
Jefferson Davis's Inaugural Address	615	(3)
Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address	618	(6)
Speech by Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens in Savannah	624	(1)
Proclamation Calling Militia and Convening Congress	625	(1)
The Emancipation Proclamation	626	(1)
The Gettysburg Address	627	(1)
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction	628	(2)
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address	630	(1)
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution	631	(2)
Bibliography	633	(52)
Index	685