Bruce Levine's "The Fall of the House of Dixie"

[lpetrich]

've finished reading the book "The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South". It's excellent. I find it especially curious how the plantation-slaveowner elite reacted to the war. It was a war waged on their behalf, a war waged so that they could continue owning slaves. But after the first few months to a year, they could not be bothered to do much to support the war effort. They exempted their sons from the military draft with the "Twenty Negro Law", they were not willing to grow much grain or sell it at low prices, and they were not willing to hire out their slaves for tasks like building fortifications. The poorer Confederate citizens ended up grumbling that they were fighting for people who were clearly not doing as much as they could. "A rich man's war and a poor man's fight." That sentiment was especially strong in parts of the South with relatively few slaves. Western Virginians succeeded in seceding from their state, but eastern Tennesseeans' attempt to do so was crushed by the Confederate Army.

Consider the case of plantation owner and slavery defender James Henry Hammond. He argued that the slaves were very suited for doing the work that they were made to do, that they were better off enslaved than free, and that higher civilization rests on the labors of an underclass of people that never get much for their labor -- the "mudsill theory" of society. But when a Confederate army officer stopped by to requisition some grain, he tore up the requisition order, tossed it out a window, and wrote about it that it compensated him too little, and that it was like

branding on my forehead

SLAVE

 

[SLD]

've finished reading the book "The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South". It's excellent. I find it especially curious how the plantation-slaveowner elite reacted to the war. It was a war waged on their behalf, a war waged so that they could continue owning slaves. But after the first few months to a year, they could not be bothered to do much to support the war effort. They exempted their sons from the military draft with the "Twenty Negro Law", they were not willing to grow much grain or sell it at low prices, and they were not willing to hire out their slaves for tasks like building fortifications. The poorer Confederate citizens ended up grumbling that they were fighting for people who were clearly not doing as much as they could. "A rich man's war and a poor man's fight." That sentiment was especially strong in parts of the South with relatively few slaves. Western Virginians succeeded in seceding from their state, but eastern Tennesseeans' attempt to do so was crushed by the Confederate Army.

Consider the case of plantation owner and slavery defender James Henry Hammond. He argued that the slaves were very suited for doing the work that they were made to do, that they were better off enslaved than free, and that higher civilization rests on the labors of an underclass of people that never get much for their labor -- the "mudsill theory" of society. But when a Confederate army officer stopped by to requisition some grain, he tore up the requisition order, tossed it out a window, and wrote about it that it compensated him too little, and that it was like

branding on my forehead

SLAVE

Haven’t read it, but have read several books like it. As observers at the time noted, The South failed due to too much States' rights. It failed to fully mobilize its resources. If they truly wanted independence, they would’ve considered emancipating slaves in exchange for their military service. But that of course would have destroyed the very essence of the Confederacy.

And indeed whole sections of the South rebelled against it. Not just West Virginia, but Alabama, North Carolina, and virtually anywhere where slavery was not profitable. With the exception of South Carolina, a majority of non slave holding delegates to the state secession conventions voted against seceding. Whole areas of the South basically refused to support the cause and it hurt enlistments terribly. Recruiters or militia dared not go into western North Carolina. It was pointless. Even parts of Mississippi were off limits. State militias had to spend so much time suppressing internal rebellions that they were unavailable for action in Norhern Virginia where they were desperately needed.

The 20 slave rule was obviously unfair but was probably necessary. White plantation owners were truly afraid of slave insurrections. And rightfully so. There had been enough in the South already. Once fighting broke out they reappeared. Slaves on Jeff Davis's plantation revolted when Union armies came close and tied down several companies that were needed to stop Grant's advance on Vicksburg. Thus it’s an unwinnable dilemma for the Confederacy.

 

[lpetrich]

I've thought of another name for this thread: "...branding on my forehead: SLAVE"

But James Henry Hammond was far from alone in his objections to Confederate-government requisitions. There were rumors that some planters would let some crops rot rather than be requisitioned, something that seems out of some farmers' protests of ca. 1930 Soviet collectivization of agriculture. Also, when the Confederacy suffered a lot of shortages, some people claimed that it was because planters were offended by requisitions, and if the government would stop coercing them, then they would produce.

Turning to the military draft, none less than Vice President Alexander Stephens claimed that it was involuntary servitude.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

've finished reading the book "The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South". It's excellent. I find it especially curious how the plantation-slaveowner elite reacted to the war. It was a war waged on their behalf, a war waged so that they could continue owning slaves. But after the first few months to a year, they could not be bothered to do much to support the war effort. They exempted their sons from the military draft with the "Twenty Negro Law", they were not willing to grow much grain or sell it at low prices, and they were not willing to hire out their slaves for tasks like building fortifications. The poorer Confederate citizens ended up grumbling that they were fighting for people who were clearly not doing as much as they could. "A rich man's war and a poor man's fight." That sentiment was especially strong in parts of the South with relatively few slaves. Western Virginians succeeded in seceding from their state, but eastern Tennesseeans' attempt to do so was crushed by the Confederate Army.

Consider the case of plantation owner and slavery defender James Henry Hammond. He argued that the slaves were very suited for doing the work that they were made to do, that they were better off enslaved than free, and that higher civilization rests on the labors of an underclass of people that never get much for their labor -- the "mudsill theory" of society. But when a Confederate army officer stopped by to requisition some grain, he tore up the requisition order, tossed it out a window, and wrote about it that it compensated him too little, and that it was like

branding on my forehead

SLAVE

Every generation their "ten percenters".