Breaking the Heartland: The Civil War in GeorgiaJohn D. Fowler, David B. Parker The Civil War was arguably the watershed event in the history of the United States, forever changing the nature of the Republic and the relationship of individuals to their government. The war ended slavery and initiated the long road toward racial equality. The United States now stands at the sesquicentennial of that event, and its citizens attempt to arrive at an understanding of what that event meant to the past, present, and future of the nation. Few states had a greater impact on the outcome of the nation⿿s greatest calamity than Georgia. Georgia provided 125,000 soldiers for the Confederacy as well as thousands more for the Union cause. Also, many of the Confederacy⿿s most influential military and civilian leaders hailed from the state. Georgia was vital to the Confederate war effort because of its agricultural and industrial output. The Confederacy had little hope of winning without the farms and shops of the state. Moreover, the state was critical to the Southern infrastructure because of the river and rail links that crossed it and connected the western Confederacy to the eastern half. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the war was arguably decided in North Georgia with the Atlanta Campaign and Lincoln⿿s subsequent reelection. This campaign was the last forlorn hope for the Southern Republic and the Union⿿s greatest triumph. Despite the state⿿s importance to the Confederacy and the war⿿s ultimate outcome, not enough has been written concerning Georgia⿿s experience during those turbulent years. The essays in this volume attempt to redress this dearth of scholarship. They present a mosaic of events, places, and people, exploring the impact of the war on Georgia and its residents and demonstrating the importance of the state to the outcome of the Civil War. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Georgias Inner Civil | 19 |
States of Dependence and Independence | 46 |
Georgia Lowcountry Battlegrounds during the Civil | 67 |
Hearsay as Information | 110 |
The Confederate | 127 |
Sam Richards | 150 |
The Confederate Struggle for Atlanta | 170 |
Confederate | 219 |
| 237 | |
Common terms and phrases
Acts and Resolutions antebellum Army of Tennessee Assembly Athens Atlanta Campaign Atlanta Daily Intelligencer Atlanta Southern Confederacy August Bartow County battle Cassville cavalry Chapel Hill citizens Civil War Diary civilians Cobb command Confederate army Confederate soldiers Confederate veterans conscription cotton county's Daily Intelligencer December deserters Elizabeth enslaved factory families Federal forces Georgia Archives Georgia Historical Quarterly Georgia Legislature Georgia Press Governor guerrillas Hawkinsville historians History home front Hood household Howell Cobb James January Jefferson Davis John John Bell Hood Johnston Joseph Brown Joseph E July labor legislators lowcountry Macon March McMurry military Milledgeville North Carolina Press North Georgia Northern November officers Pickens County plantation planters Public Laws Pulaski County railroad residents Rice Richards Richards's Civil Robert rumors Savannah secession Sherman slaveholders slavery slaves South state's textbooks troops Union Unionists University of Georgia University of North University Press wartime widows William women wrote Yankees York