Maryland Voices of the Civil War Review

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(More customer reviews)With this book, Charles W. Mitchell makes a major contribution to Civil War studies. No state in this era was more torn than the state of Maryland. Applying both scholarly wisdom and personal tenacity, Mitchell has successfully labored to uncover the story of Marylanders through their own private testimony. Moreover, he organizes and connects his material beautifully, to make a truly readable and indeed enjoyable, if at times harrowing, volume. Such a book has been needed for a long time; and for many years hence, both scholars and ordinary readers will be in Mr. Mitchell's debt.

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The most contentious event in our nation's history, the Civil War deeply divided families, friends, and communities. Both sides fought to define the conflict on their own terms-Lincoln and his supporters struggled to preserve the Union and end slavery, while the Confederacy waged a battle for the primacy of local liberty or "states' rights." But the war had its own peculiar effects on the four border slave states that remained loyal to the Union. Internal disputes and shifting allegiances injected uncertainty, apprehension, and violence into the everyday lives of their citizens.No state better exemplified the vital role of a border state than Maryland-where the passage of time has not dampened debates over issues such as the alleged right of secession and executive power versus civil liberties in wartime. InMaryland Voices of the Civil War, Charles W. Mitchell draws upon hundreds of letters, diaries, and period newspapers-many previously unpublished-to portray the passions of a wide variety of people-merchants, slaves, soldiers, politicians, freedmen, women, clergy, slave owners, civic leaders, and children-caught in the emotional vise of war. Mitchell tells the compelling story of how Maryland African Americans escaped from slavery and fought for the Union and their freedom alongside white soldiers and he reinforces the provocative notion that Maryland's Southern sympathies-while genuine-never seriously threatened to bring about a Confederate Maryland. Maryland Voices of the Civil War illuminates the human complexities of the Civil War era and the political realignment that enabled Marylanders to abolish slavery in their state before the end of the war.

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