Michigan's War - The Civil War in Documents

Building upon the current scholarship of the Civil War and the Midwest, Michigan's War is a history as told by the state's residents in private letters, newspapers, and other sources. Clear annotations and thoughtful editing allow students to delve into the political, social, and military context of the war, making it ideal for classroom use.

List of contents

Contents

List of Illustrations

Series Editors’ Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One - Michigan, Slavery, and the Coming of the Civil War

Henry Bibb Writes from Detroit to His Former Owner in Kentucky

Northerners Are Slaves to the Slaveholders

Lewis Cass Favors Nonintervention in the Territories

A Democrat Opposes Lewis Cass on Slavery

Michigan Republican Platform, 1854

Michigan’s Personal Liberty Laws

Abraham Lincoln Campaigns in Kalamazoo

John Brown and Frederick Douglass Debate Slave Insurrection in Detroit

A Nonpartisan Newspaper Bolts for the Republicans

Stephen A. Douglas, “The Conflict and the Cause”

Stephen A. Douglas Responds to Hecklers in Dowagiac

Two - The Secession Crisis

Governor Austin Blair Declares “Secession Is Revolution”

Secession Resulted from Republicans’ Agitation on Slavery

“The Blood of Southern Men Enriched the Soil of Michigan”

An Anti-abolition Riot during the Secession Crisis

The Michigan Legislature Opposes Compromise with Secessionists

Zachariah Chandler’s “Blood-Letting” Letter

A Democrat’s Pessimistic Response to Lincoln’s Inaugural: “We Shall Have War”

Northern Michigan Learns of the War

Three - Shifting Michigan to a War Footing

Michigan’s Deceptive Silence While War Fever Escalates

A Mother Tries to Curb Her Son’s Desire to Enlist

The South May Be Crimsoned with Traitors’ Blood, but Freedom Shall Be Maintained

A Volunteer Meeting

Recruiting a Cavalry Troop

Leaving Michigan for the Front

Orlando Bolivar Willcox Speaks in Detroit after His Release as a Prisoner of War

One Year: Reflections on the War in December 1861

Four - The Soldier’s Life

The Routine of Camp Life

Soldiers’ Deteriorating Morals

Paroling Prisoners of War

Notifying a Soldier’s Family Regarding Death

A Self-Inflicted Wound?

Execution of a Deserter

A Soldier’s Thoughts Regarding Reenlistment

A Soldier Discourages His Brother from Enlisting

Two Michigan Soldiers on Opposing Sides of the Battlefield

A Hospital Steward Describes the Battle of Shiloh

A Soldier’s Reflections on Combat and Military Life

The 24th Michigan Infantry at Gettysburg

Under Confederate and Union Fire

Custer and the Michigan Cavalry Brigade at Yellow Tavern

Environmental Devastation on the Virginia Front

The 2nd Infantry’s Address to the People of Michigan

How the Soldiers Feel about the War

Tensions in the Ranks

A Woman and a Soldier

Michigan Annie: A Regimental Daughter

The Michigan Colored Regiment

Indigenous People from Northern Michigan Form a Company of Sharpshooters

Five - Conscription, Commutation, and Dissent

Hoping to Escape the Draft

Detroit’s Antiblack Riot, 1863

Prevent Conscription by Increasing Bounties

A Soldier’s Reaction to Commutation Fees

Avoiding the Draft by Pooling Resources

The Challenges of Hiring Substitutes

Draft Resistance in Huron County

A Political Prank Succeeds beyond Its Creators’ Wildest Dreams

A Political Prisoner Writes to Abraham Lincoln

Six - Civilians Confront the War

Reflections on Defeat following the First Battle of Bull Run

A Mining Engineer Responds to the Federal Defeat at Bull Run

The Civil War Comes to Copper Country

“Let us have no more Robbery at the Expense of our Volunteers and Taxpayers”

A Democrat Questions War Contracts

An African American Gives Up on the United States

Black Detroiters Denounce White Racism

A Woman’s Anxiety and Loneliness

The Michigan Soldiers’ Aid Society Issues an Appeal

A Michigan Journalist Describes a Civil War Hospital

A Nurse’s Work at a Convalescent Hospital

A Civil War Nurse Writes to Her Husband in Michigan

A Prospective Army Nurse Inquires about Serving

War Accelerates the Push toward Labor-Saving Machinery

A Soldier Complains about Inadequate Support for Military Families

Labor Disputes in the Upper Peninsula’s Iron Mines

The Failed Attempt to Rescue Confederate Prisoners

Detroit Responds to Another Attack from Canada

Seven - Michigan’s Wartime Politics

A Democrat’s Growing Fears Regarding Abolitionists

Democrats as Unwitting Traitors

A Soldier Complains of Abolitionists’ Failure to Support McClellan and the Troops

“This War Should Never End Until the Rebellion is Completely Crushed”

A Democrat Questions Emancipation

A Republican Responds to Democrats’ Opposition to the Emancipation Proclamation

A Democrat Embraces Emancipation

A Republican Editor Assesses Lincoln in 1863

Michigan’s Lone Democratic Representative Addresses the US Congress

A Good Cause Ruined by Bad Management

Democrats Have Been Supportive of the War

A One-Time Supporter of Lincoln Renounces the President

A Democratic Appeal for the Soldier Vote

Kalamazoo Republicans’ Appeal on the Eve of the 1864 Election

Detroit Blacks Appeal to Michigan Legislature for Full Citizenship

Eight - The Civil War Changes Michiganians’ Relationship to Slavery

Increased Hostility to Slavery Yet Questioning Emancipation

Democratic Reaction to “Abolition Fanaticism”

A Michigan Soldier Opposes Prospective Emancipation

Heralding Lincoln’s Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation

Democratic Objections to the Emancipation Proclamation

A Michigan Soldier Opposes the Enlistment of African Americans

Michigan Whites Respond to African American Soldiers

War Will Continue So Long as Slavery Exists

The South Understood through the Lens of Slavery

Freedom’s Underside: A Civil War Refugee Camp

We Are No Admirer of Slavery

Michigan Ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment Ending Slavery

Nine - The Civil War’s End and Reconstruction

The Feeling in the Army: Soldiers’ Reactions to Lincoln’s Assassination

Jefferson Davis’s Capture

The War Is Over and Soldiers Want to Go Home

Jacob Howard on Reconstruction

Michigan Democrats Embrace Andrew Johnson

“Is the Union Restored?”

A Lynching in Mason, 1866

William L. Stoughton Denounces the Ku Klux Klan

Zachariah Chandler’s Last Speech

The Michigan Civil Rights Act of 1885

War Looks Much Different in Retrospect

The Painful Lives of Disabled Veterans

Jane Hinsdale’s Successful Application for a Civil War Pension

A Veteran Reflects on the Civil War in 1917

Timeline

Discussion Questions

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

About the author

John W. Quist is a professor of history at Shippensburg University. He is the author of Restless Visionaries: The Social Roots of Antebellum Reform in Alabama and Michigan and coeditor of James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War.

Summary

Building upon the current scholarship of the Civil War and the Midwest, Michigan's War is a history as told by the state's residents in private letters, newspapers, and other sources. Clear annotations and thoughtful editing allow students to delve into the political, social, and military context of the war, making it ideal for classroom use.

Product details

• Authors: John W. Quist
• Assisted by: John W. Quist (Editor)
• Publisher: University of ohio press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.07.2018
• EAN: 9780821423127
• ISBN: 978-0-8214-2312-7
• No. of pages: 240
• Series: Civil War in the Great Interio; Michigan's War; Civil War in the Great Interio; Michigan's War
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous