All that Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War South

301 Pages·2003·2.8 MB·English

by  Stephen William Berry II

All that Makes a Man:

Love and Ambition

in the Civil War South

STEPHEN W. BERRY II

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
ALL THAT MAKES A MAN
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A L L T H A T M A K E S

A M A N
q

Love and Ambition

in the Civil War South

STEPHEN W. BERRY II
1

2003
1

Oxford New York
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Copyright � 2003 by Stephen W. Berry II
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Berry, Stephen William.

All that makes a man : love and ambition

in the Civil War South / Stephen W. Berry II.

p. cm Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-0-19-514567-4

1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Social aspects.

2. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Psychological aspects.

3. Confederate States of America—Social conditions.

4. Men—Confederate States of America—Social conditions.

5. Men—Confederate States of America—Psychology.

6. Sex role—Confederate States of America.

7. Man-woman relationships—Confederate States of America.

8. Ambition—History—19th century.

9. Soldiers—Confederate States of America—Social conditions.

10. Soldiers—Confederate States of America—Psychology. I. Title.

E468.9.B37 2002

973.7'1—dc21 2002070048

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
I [know] of no more subtle master under heaven

Than is the maiden passion for a maid,

Not only to keep down the base in man,

But teach high thought, and amiable words

And courtliness, and the desire of fame,

And love of truth, and all that makes a man.

—Alfred Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King
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CONTENTS

List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 3
I Men and Ambition
1 All That Makes a Man 17
2 Two Separate Yet Most Intimate Things 45
Laurence Massillon Keitt: Politics as Epic Poem 47
Henry Craft: The Memory of Love 64
II Men and Women
3 Across a Great Divide 83
4 Purity and Desire 114
David Outlaw: This Hollow Hearted Sodom 118
Harry St. John Dixon: An Apple Before a Child 136
vii
viii 
III Men and War
5 A Fountain of Waters 163

6 Looking Homeward 193

Nathaniel Dawson: The Unstudied Language

of the Heart 196

Theodorick Montfort: Something to Love and Pett 218

Epilogue 227

Notes 239

Bibliography 269

Index 283
ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Thomas Cole, Voyage of life (Youth). Oil on canvas 27

2. “Young America,” cartoon 33

3. Melee in the House of Representatives 49

4. Laurence Massillon Keitt 53

5. Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog 58

6. Henry Craft’s Marriage License 69

7. “A Terrible Moment,” Punch, 1856 84

8. “A Winter in the South,” Harper’s Weekly, January 1858 112
9. David Outlaw 120

10. “A Kiss for a Vote,” Southern Literary Messenger,
July 1860 131
11. Passage From Diary of Harry St. John Dixon 147

12. Sketch From a Soldier’s Pocket Diary 180

13. Confederate Soldier Returns Home 194

14. Gravemarker of Elodie Todd Dawson 231

15. Harry St. John Dixon in Confederate Uniform 233

16. Montfort’s Fallen Casemate 235

ix