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Loyal Americans marched off to war in 1861 not to conquer the South but to liberate it. So argues the author in this book, a sweeping narrative of the Civil War and a bold new interpretation of Union and Confederate war aims. Northerners imagined the war as a crusade to deliver the Southern masses from slaveholder domination and to bring democracy, prosperity, and education to the region. As the war escalated, Lincoln and his allies built the case that emancipation would secure military victory and benefit the North and South alike. The theme of deliverance was essential in mobilizing a Unionist coalition of Northerners and anti-Confederate Southerners. Confederates, fighting to establish an independent slaveholding republic, were determined to preempt, discredit, and silence Yankee appeals to the Southern masses. In their quest for political unity Confederates relentlessly played up two themes: Northern barbarity and Southern victimization. Casting the Union army as ruthless conquerors, Confederates argued that the emancipation of blacks was synonymous with the subjugation of the white South. Interweaving military and social history, the author shows that everyday acts on the ground - from the flight of slaves, to protests against the draft, the plundering of civilian homes, and civilian defiance of military occupation - reverberated at the highest levels of government. The author also offers new perspectives on major battles, illuminating how soldiers and civilians alike coped with the physical and emotional toll of the war as it grew into a massive humanitarian crisis. The union's politics of deliverance helped it to win the war. But such appeals failed to convince Confederates to accept peace on the victor's terms, ultimately sowing the seeds of postwar discord.… (more)
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The North's political leaders and much of the newspapers significantly over estimated the degree of overt and latent unionism throughout the Southern states. There was a mistaken sense that once unburdened of the oppressive yoke of the power elite many Southerners would openly rally to restoration of the Union. This misapprehension supported the belief that all but the top political and military leaders of the rebel states were deserving of leniency at the conclusion of armed conflict. This certainly informed Lincoln's reconstruction plan and Johnson's even more liberal approach. This degree of open welcome back to the fold was not shared by the Radical Republicans who disputed Johnson's executive actions and put into effect their own harsher legislation.
While not primarily a military history, the author does a good job of succinctly recounting the military campaigns and weaving the public's reaction toward these military events into the theme of hoped for deliverance from the tyranny of the ruling elite.