Toward a Social History of the American Civil War: Exploratory Essays

Maris Vinovskis

Cambridge University Press, Sep 28, 1990 - History - 201 pages

The American Civil War has been the subject of thousands of books and articles, but only a small fraction of this literature examines the impact of the war on society and on the lives of the participants. This volume of essays, which focuses on the North, is intended as an initial reconnaissance by social historians into the study of the Civil War. The first essay, 'Have Social Historians Lost the Civil War?' places the war in the broader context of other American wars by comparing casualty rates. The essay also examines rates of enlistment for the North and the South, and the significance of pensions for Union soldiers and their windows. Subsequent essays look at the support for the war in small towns; the influence of nineteenth-century values and culture on Union soldiers; the nature and role of large-scale relief efforts for soldiers in Philadelphia; and the impact of the war on the politics of Chicago. The final two essays discuss the continuing importance of the war for its survivors: one by looking at those who joined the major national organization of Union veterans; and the other by studying the impact of the Civil War on Union widows in three Northern towns. Taken together, the essays demonstrate the need for historians to rediscover the impact of the Civil War on nineteenth-century society.

Contents

• 1 Have Social Historians Lost the Civil War? Some Preliminary Demographic Speculations: 1
• The Civil War Experience of Two New Hampshire Towns: 31
• 3 The Northern Soldier and His Community: 78
• Philadelphias Great Central Fair: 93
• 5 The Civil War and Municipal Government in Chicago: 117
• 6 Who Joined the Grand Army? Three Case Studies in the Construction of Union Veteranhood 18661900: 139
• American Widows and the Civil War Pension System: 171
• Index: 197

About the author

Vinovskis holds the Bentley Chair in History at the University of Michigan.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Toward a Social History of the American Civil War: Exploratory Essays
• Editor: Maris Vinovskis
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1990
• ISBN: 0521395593, 9780521395595
• Length: 201 pages
• Subjects: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Europe / Russia & the Former Soviet Union; History / Modern / General; History / United States / 19th Century; History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)