Scholarship Collection
Looking for scholarly expertise? This collection presents secondary sources related to the Civil War and Reconstruction in North Carolina. These books and articles were written by scholars, mostly historians, based upon evidence from primary sources. The collection contains analyses of the scholarship written by students in history classes at North Carolina State University and other contributors that highlight the scholars' approach, argument, and evidence. This collection also provides brief excerpts of the scholars' books and articles.
David Blight, Race and Reunion (2001)
In his award-winning book, Race and Reunion, David Blight, a historian at Yale University, examines how Americans remembered the Civil War from the…
Ansley Herring Wegner, Phantom Pain (2004)
Ansley Herring Wegner’s Phantom Pain: North Carolina's Artificial Limb Program For Confederate Veterans offers a comprehensive look into the…
Jacqueline Glass Campbell, When Sherman Marched North from the Sea (2003)
In her 2003 book, When Sherman Marched North from the Sea, Jacqueline Campbell, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut, analyzed…
Drew Gilpin Faust, Mothers of Invention (1996)
In Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War, Drew Gilpin Faust breaks down the Southern conception of women…
Kent Redding, Making Race, Making Power (2003)
In his book, Making Race, Making Power: North Carolina's Road to Disfranchisement (2003), sociologist Kent Redding examined the context for the…
Scot Ngozi-Brown, “African-American Soldiers and Filipinos" (1997)
Scot Ngozi-Brown discusses the development of social relations between African-American soldiers and Filipino civilians in the Philippines during the…
George C. Rable, Confederate Republic (1994)
George Rable's book, Confederate Republic: A Revolution Against Politics, takes the Confederate political culture and assesses it in its "own right"…
Allen W. Trelease, White Terror (1971)
Allen W. Trelease’s book, White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction, looks at the terror invoked by the KKK during…
R.W. Reising, "Literary Depictions of Henry Berry Lowry: Mythic, Romantic, and Tragic" (1992)
The article “Literary Depictions of Henry Berry Lowry: Mythic, Romantic, and Tragic” looks at how Henry Berry Lowry and the myth…
James McPherson, For Cause and Comrades (1998)
For Cause and Comrades was written by James McPherson. McPherson, a Civil War historian and professor at Princeton University, read over 25,000…
Archer Jones, "Military Means, Political Ends" (1992)
In his essay entitled “Military Means, Political Ends”, part of a collection of essays entitled Why the Confederacy Lost edited by Gabor…
Judkin Browning, Shifting Loyalties (2011)
Union forces marched into Craven and Carteret counties in North Carolina in the spring of 1862, which would spark an occupation that would last until…
Jennifer L. Weber, Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln's Opponents in the North (2006)
A detailed history of the anti-Lincoln and anti-war northern Democrats commonly known then as the "Copperheads." Weber details some of the plots and…
Jospeh C. Sitterson, The Secession Movement in N.C. (1939)
J. Carlyle Sitterson (1911-1995) was born in Kinston, N.C. He received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1931 and began teaching…
Walter C. Hilderman III, "The Absolute Necessity, April - November 1862" (2005)
The third chapter of Walter Hilderman's They Went Into The Fight Cheering is particularly useful in describing how the Confederate conscription…
Herbert Aptheker, Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion (2006)
The book specifically addresses its concerns of previous research done concerning the Nat Turner Rebellion, claiming that previous historians brought…
Timothy Huebner, The Southern Judicial Tradition (1999)
In The Southern Judicial Tradition: State Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, State Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, 1790-1890, Timothy Huebner…
Mark Tushnet, Slave Law in the American South (2003)
Slavery in the American South could not have existed without the authority of law defining slaves as the property of their masters. But the fact that…
David Brown, "Attacking Slavery from Within" (2004)
David Brown’s, “Attacking Slavery from Within: The Making of The Impending Crisis of the South” explores the life and writings of…
Judith Lee Hallock, "The Role of the Community in Civil War Desertion" (1983)
In this source, the author describes the draft that Lincoln issued during the Civil War, and some of the possible reasons that soldiers chose to…
Louis Brown, The Salisbury Prison (1992)
Louis Brown's The Salisbury Prison: A Case Study of Confederate Military Prisons, 1861-1865 provides an all inclusive look into the Confederate Prison…
Shearer Davis Bowman, At The Precipice (2010)
In his book, At The Precipice: Americans North and South During the Secession Crisis, Shearer Davis Bowman seeks to answer the questionon why did the…
Alan W. Trelease, White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction (1971)
This book focuses on primarily the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the whole South in response to "Radical Reconstruction." The book opens up with…
John Spencer Bassett, Antislavery Leaders of North Carolina (1898)
In Antislavery Leaders of North Carolina, Bassett starts by giving a brief background of antislavery areas within the South. He highlights places…
Brucella Wiggins Jordan, "Ida B. Wells, Catherine Impey, and Trans-Atlantic Dimensions of the Nineteenth Century Anti-Lynching Movement" (2008)
In this piece of historical writing Jordan examines Tourgee as part of a larger group of individuals who were part of an anti-lynching movement during…
Stephen R. Wise, Lifeline of the Confederacy (1988)
Stephen R. Wise is a professor at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort and Director of the Parris Island Museum. In his book Lifeline of the…
William C. Harris, ''The Southern Unionist Critique of the Civil War'' (1985)
William C. Harris approaches the Civil War differently than other historians. He read and deciphered various speeches, letters, and books that were…
Richard E. Yates, "Zebulon B. Vance as War Governor of North Carolina, 1862-1865" (1937)
In his piece on the Zebulon Baird Vance, Yates highlights the political career of the North Carolinian governor. First elected in 1862, re-elected in…
Katherine Giuffre, "First in Flight: Desertion as Politics in the North Carolina Confederate Army" (1997)
Small plot farmers who had little stake in the war were driven to enter the Confederate Army at first by a sense of loyalty to their state. However,…
Rev. J. A. Whitehead, D.D., A History of Negro Baptists of North Carolina (1908)
In his book, Rev. J.A.Whitehead describes how the presents of religion had an impact on the public schools. In chapter nine of his book, he…
Jean Fagan Yellin, The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers (2008)
Jean Fagan Yellin has researched for decades to prove that the autobiography of Harriet Jacobs is in fact autobiographical. Many scholars maintain…
Stanly E. Godbold, Confederate Colonel and Cherokee Chief (1990)
This secondary source was a biography of the life of William Holland Thomas, it covers his roots and follows his works until his death. Godbold and…
James McPherson, What They Fought For (1994)
James McPherson, in What They Fought For, explains the reason Confederate and Union soldiers prevailed throughout the bloodiest war ever fought in the…
Jeffrey Brooke Allen, "The Racial Thought of White North Carolina Opponents of Slavery, 1789-1876" (1982)
Jeffrey Brooke Allen examined the viewpoints of North Carolina white opponents of slavery from Antebellum to Reconstruction. Through a variety of…
Jean Fagan Yellin, Harriet Jacobs: A Life (2004)
Jean Fagan Yellin is the most widely known and respected author when examining the life of Harriet Jacobs, a slave who authored her own life story in…
Joseph Glatthaar, The March to the Sea and Beyond (1985)
Joseph T. Glatthaar, a professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, provides interesting accounts of the common Union soldier that…
John Barrett, Sherman's March through the Carolinas (1956)
John Barrett’s 1956 book, Sherman’s March through the Carolinas, is one of the first thorough studies of Union General William T.…
William J. McNeill, "A Survey of Confederate Soldier Morale During Sherman's Campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas" (1971)
In his 1971 article, “"A Survey of Confederate Soldier Morale during Sherman's Campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas," William McNeill…
William A. Link, North Carolina (2009)
William A. Link’s book provided basic background information on North Carolina before the Civil War and secession. I used this book to gain general…
Richard B. McCaslin, "The Last Stronghold" (2003)
In his book entitled The Last Stronghold, historian Richard McCaslin provides a detailed and sound history of the rise and Fall of Fort Fisher.…
Conditional Confederates: Absenteeism Among Western North Carolina Soldiers 1861-1865
This document describes numerous situations that Western North Carolina Confederate soldiers were put through, which lead to their decision to desert…
Charles M. Robinson III, "Hurricane of Fire" (1998)
In his book entitled “Hurricane of Fire,” Historian Charles Robinson provides a sound and detailed description of both the history and…
Layers of Loyalty: Confederate Nationalism and Amnesty Letters from Western North Carolina
Discussions between governor Zeb Vance, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis on the impact that desertion made on the Confederate effort during the…
First in Flight: Desertion as Politics in the North Carolina Confederate Army
In this chapter from Social Science History, the author discusses the personal and political reasons for desertion in the Confederate Army of North…
From Proslavery to Secession
This document helps place the arguments concerning slavery into a national context.
Sectional Conflict: Slavery, Sectionalism Sow Seeds of War
This work of scholarship provides a brief description of the evolution of the debates over slavery and the events that led to secession.
Richard Bardolph, "Confederate Dilemma: North Carolina Troops and the Deserter Problem" (1989)
Throughout the war desertion was a major issue that the Confederacy had to deal with, and North Carolina had the reputation as being the worst. The…
Richard Bardolph, "Inconstant Rebels: Desertion of North Carolina Troops in the Civil War" (1964)
In this article Richard Bardolph discusses the reasons to why the North Carolina soldiers made the choice to leave their posts. He listed many…
Scott King-Owen "Conditional Confederates: Absenteeism Among Western North Carolina Soldiers 1861-1865" (2011)
A common question that scholars and historians alike are trying to answer is why was desertion such a problem in Western North Carolina? Studies have…
Rod Gragg, "Confederate Goliath" (1991)
In “Confederate Goliath,” historian Rod Gragg provides a definitive history of the Union assault on, and eventual capture of, Fort Fisher.…
Peter S Bearman, "Desertion as Localism: Army Unit Solidarity and Group Norms in the U.S. Civil War" (1991)
Ironically the central government that the states seceded to was more powerful than the one they had left, putting to rest the argument that they had…
Richard Reid "A Testcase of the 'Crying Evil': Desertion Among North Carolina Troops During the Civil War" (1981)
This is quantitative analysis of North Carolina troops desertion. Reid argues that the assumption that troops from North Carolina were more prone to…
Victims
Mountain Unionists are brutally murdered in the Shelton Laurell area of the NOrth Carolina Mountains. Among the victims was a 13 year old boy. The…
Race, War, and Remembrance in the Appalachian South
Recounts the the role of the Southern Appalachian's in the years leading up to, during, and following the Civil War. Inscoe understands that the…
Thomas Lanier Clingman: Fire Eater From the Carolina Mountains
Thomas Lanier Clingman was a unique man. Born and raised in western North Carolina, Clingman studied law at the University of North Carolina at…
" Man's Noblest Poem is Man's Bravest Deed"
Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston, an educated southern woman of Halifax County, NC had an knack for literary works, especially poems. Poetry allowed…
The Reconstruction of White Southern Womanhood 1865-1895
Jane Turner Censer focuses on elite white women in the upper South and argues that they reconfigured what it meant to be a "southern belle" in the…
Within the Plantation Household : Black and White Women of the Old South
Fox-Genovese depicts the hierarchal class relations between white women slaveholders and slave women in the 19th century, that ultimately shapes…
B. H. Liddell Hart, Strategy (1960)
B. H. Liddell Hart is often considered one of the foremost mid-20th century scholars on military history. Hart died in 1970 but his books on military…
Drew Gilpin Faust, The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South (1988)
In her book, The Creation of Confederate Nationalism (1988), Drew Gilpin Faust explores how southerners sought to create nationalism for their new…
Gary Gallagher, The Union War (2011)
In The Union War (2011), Civil War scholar Gary Gallagher discusses why Northerners continued to fight to defeat the Confederacy. In his book,…
Chandra Manning, "The Order of Nature Would Be Reversed: Slavery and the North Carolina Gubernatorial Election of 1864" (2008)
Scholar Chandra Manning examines the North Carolina gubernatorial election of 1864 between incumbent Zebulon Vance and William W. Holden, local owner…
Chandra Manning, What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War(2008)
This book uses letters, diaries, and even regimental newsletters from Civil War soldiers. With sources from both North and South, black and white, the…
Kent Blaser, "North Carolina and John Brown's Raid" (1978)
This article provides the best account of John Brown and how North Carolina reacted to the news of his raid on Harpers Ferry.
Anne C. Loveland, Southern Evangelicals and the Social Order 1800-1860 (1980)
Many of the men that attended church every Sunday prior to the Civil War were the same men that owned slaves back at home. The practice of slavery…
James A.Wynn Jr.,Thomas Ruffin and the Perils of Public Homage: State v. Mann: Judicial Choice or Judicial Duty?(2009)
Judge James A. Wynn Jr. is a former Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and has offered insight into Thomas Ruffin's decision in State v.…
RobertFogel and StanleyEngerman,Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery(1995)
Economists Robert Fogel and Stanly Engerman take a financial look at the practice of slavery. Their main argument is that it makes economic sense for…
Eugene Genovese, The World the Slaveholders Made: Two Essays in Interpretation (1988)
Eugene Genovese presents the idea that slave owners are less likely to harm a slave if they have owned them from early on in the slave's life. Because…