Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South, 1865-1913

Submitted by FHMaster on Sun, 01/15/2017 - 09:58

"After Lee and Grant met at Appomatox Court House in 1865 to sign the document ending the long and bloody Civil War, the South at last had to face defeat as the dream of a Confederate nation melted into the Lost Cause. Through an examination of memoirs, personal papers, and postwar Confederate rituals such as memorial day observances, monument unveilings, and veterans' reunions, Ghosts of the Confederacy probes into how white southerners adjusted to and interpreted their defeat and explores the cultural implications of a central event in American history.

After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War

Submitted by FHMaster on Fri, 01/06/2017 - 17:14

"The Civil War did not end with Confederate capitulation in 1865. A second phase commenced which lasted until 1871—not Reconstruction but genuine belligerency whose mission was to crush slavery and create civil and political rights for freed people. But as Gregory Downs shows, military occupation posed its own dilemmas, including near-anarchy. "