Reconstructing Appalachia: The Civil War’s Aftermath

392 Pages·2010·3.29 MB·English

by  Andrew L. Slap

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s
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(ContinuEd from front flap) hiStory/AppALAchiAn StudieS SLAp
reconStructing
reconStructing
Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee,
West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. This approach
yields an intimate portrait of Appalachia as a “A major contribution to the continuing re-evaluation of the mountain region’s history. AppAsLAchiA
diverse collection of communities where the values This volume marks an extension of that rich scholarship, providing a vital bridge
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of place and family are of crucial importance. between the agrarian/sectional ansd industrial/national eras.” AppALAchiA
s thE Civil War’s aftErmath
—MArtin crAwford,
Highlighting a wide array of topics including
author of Ashe County’s Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South
racial reconciliation, tension between former
edited by Andrew L. SLAp
Unionists and Confederates, the evolution of post–
Introduction by Gordon B. McKinney
Civil War memory, and altered perceptions of
thE Civil War’s aftErmath f
race, gender, and economic status, Reconstructing
Appalachia illuminates the depth and breadth amilies, communities, and the nation
e f
of the far-reaching problems in Appalachia. r itself were irretrievably altered by the
Mountain dwellers endured the terrible effects t e Civil War and the subsequent societal
of the war regardless of their loyalties to North h c transformations of the nineteenth century. The
NEW DIRECTIONS IN SOUTHERN HISTORY
o
or South; both armies destroyed railroads and E repercussions of the war incited a broad range
n
trade routes throughout the region, mountain of unique problems in the mountains, including
C S
communities lost hundreds of able-bodied men, treacherous political dynamics, racial prejudices,
i
t
and farms were stripped of produce by passing v and a struggling regional economy. Andrew L.
i r
regiments, causing widespread food shortages Slap’s Reconstructing Appalachia: The Civil War’s
l
u
throughout Appalachia. The combined effects s Aftermath examines life in Appalachia after the
W c
of these losses caused the collapse of an economic ravages of the Civil War, an unexplored area in
t
a
and social infrastructure that took decades to the historical literature.
r i
repair. Exploring the voices of a forgotten region, n
’ Addressing a gap in the chronicles of our nation,
Reconstructing Appalachia unearths the history of a s g
this vital anthology explores little-known
proud people coming to grips with the aftermath
a A aspects of history with a particular emphasis
of war. f
p on the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction
t
p periods. Acclaimed scholars John C. Inscoe and
E
A Ken Fones-Wolf are joined by up-and-comers
Andrew L. SLAp, associate professor of history r
L like Mary Ella Engel, Anne E. Marshall, and
at East Tennessee State University, is the author m
A Kyle Osborn in a unique collection of essays
of The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal a
the university Press 90000 c investigating postwar Appalachia with clarity
Republicans in the Civil War Era. t
of kentucky
h h and precision.
9 780813 125817
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Featuring a broad geographic focus, these

compelling essays cover postwar events in
Cover: Soldiers stationed near Dutch Gap Canal, Virginia, circa
1864. (Buyenlarge/Getty Images) EditEd by Andrew L. SLAp
(ContinuEd on baCk flap)
kentucky
Cover design by Jen Huppert Design
Introduction by Gordon B. McKinney
Reconstructing
Appalachia
New Directions in Southern History
Series Editors
Peter S. Carmichael, West Virginia University
Michele Gillespie, Wake Forest University
William A. Link, University of Florida
Th e Lost State of Franklin: America’s First Secession
Kevin T. Barksdale
Bluecoats and Tar Heels:
Soldiers and Civilians in Reconstruction North Carolina
Mark L. Bradley
Becoming Bourgeois: Merchant Culture in the South, 1820–1865
Frank J. Byrne
Cowboy Conservatism: Texas and the Rise of the Modern Right
Sean P. Cunningham
Lum and Abner: Rural America and the Golden Age of Radio
Randal L. Hall
Entangled by White Supremacy:
Reform in World War I–era South Carolina
Janet G. Hudson
Th e View from the Ground: Experiences of Civil War Soldiers
edited by Aaron Sheehan-Dean
Southern Farmers and Th eir Stories:
Memory and Meaning in Oral History
Melissa Walker
Law and Society in the South:
A History of North Carolina Court Cases
John W. Wertheimer
RECONSTRUCTING
APPALACHIA
(cid:2)
(cid:2)
THE CIVIL WAR’S AFTERMATH
EDITED BY ANDREW L. SLAP
Introduction by Gordon B. McKinney
T U P K
HE NIVERSITY RESS OF ENTUCKY
Copyright © 2010 by Th e University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky,
Eastern Kentucky University, Th e Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University,
Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offi ces: Th e University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
Maps by Dick Gilbreath, University of Kentucky Cartography Lab.
14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reconstructing Appalachia : the Civil War’s aftermath / edited by Andrew L.
Slap ; introduction by Gordon B. McKinney.
p. cm. — (New directions in southern history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8131-2581-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Appalachian Region, Southern—History—19th century. 2. Appalachian
Region, Southern—Social conditions—19th century. 3. Appalachian Region,
Southern—Economic conditions—19th century. 4. Reconstruction (U.S.
history, 1865–1877) 5. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—
Influence. 6. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Social aspects.
I. Slap, Andrew L.
F217.A65R43 2010
973.8—dc22 2009053154
Th is book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Gordon B. McKinney
1. A New Frontier
Historians, Appalachian History, and the Aftermath of the Civil War 23
Andrew L. Slap
2. Reconstruction-era Violence in North Georgia
The Mossy Creek Ku Klux Klan’s Defense of Local Autonomy 49
Keith S. Hébert
3. UnReconstructed Appalachia
The Persistence of War in Appalachia 71
T. R. C. Hutton
4. “The Other War Was but the Beginning”
The Politics of Loyalty in Western North Carolina, 1865–1867 105
Steven E. Nash
5. “Resistless Uprising”?
Thomas Dixon’s Uncle and Western North Carolinians as Klansmen and
Statesmen 135
Paul Yandle
6. Reconstructing Race
Parson Brownlow and the Rhetoric of Race in Postwar East
Tennessee 163
Kyle Osborn
7. Gathering Georgians to Zion
John Hamilton Morgan’s 1876 Mission to Georgia 185
Mary Ella Engel
8. “Neither War nor Peace”
West Virginia’s Reconstruction Experience 211
Randall S. Gooden
9. A House Redivided
From Sectionalism to Political Economy in West Virginia 237
Ken Fones-Wolf
10. “Grudges and Loyalties Die So Slowly”
Contested Memories of the Civil War in Pennsylvania’s Appalachia 269
Robert M. Sandow
11. The Lost Cause That Wasn’t
East Tennessee and the Myth of Unionist Appalachia 293
Tom Lee
12. “A Northern Wedge Thrust into the Heart of the Confederacy”
Explaining Civil War Loyalties in the Age of Appalachian Discovery,
1900–1921 323
John C. Inscoe
13. Civil War Memory in Eastern Kentucky Is “Predominately White”
The Confederate Flag in Unionist Appalachia 349
Anne E. Marshall
List of Contributors 367
Index 371
Acknowledgments
The idea for this project first emerged at a Friday afternoon social gathering
of colleagues in the history department at East Tennessee State University
(ETSU). During the gathering, I casually commented that I could put to-
gether an anthology on Appalachia during the Civil War era. Stephen Fritz,
a senior member of the department who is usually jovial in social settings,
suddenly became serious and told me that was the kind of idea junior fac-
ulty should follow through on and not just discuss. I dutifully thought
about the idea for the rest of the afternoon, and that evening I called Bob
Sandow to get his thoughts. Bob and I talked for more than an hour that
Friday evening, after which I e-mailed Pete Carmichael to see if he would
be interested in such a project for his series at the University Press of Ken-
tucky. Pete was enthusiastic from the start, and by Monday morning Joyce
Harrison, an acquisitions editor at the press, had contacted me. Bob, Pete,
and Joyce all helped me conceptualize this project as a sequel to Kenneth
W. Noe and Shannon Wilson’s seminal Civil War in Appalachia: Collected
Essays, focusing on the Civil War’s aftermath in Appalachia.
My original inspiration for a collection on Civil War–era Appalachia
came from the historians who had given talks at the ETSU Civil War Speak-
ers Series, which I started upon arriving at ETSU. Many of the Civil War–
era historians in the area naturally focused on Appalachia; Bob Sandow,
Anne Marshall, Mary Ella Engel, and Steve Nash were among the numer-
ous historians to give a lecture in the series over the years. The ETSU his-
tory department and the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services jointly
sponsored these lectures, and center director Roberta Herrin has always been
enthusiastic about the series. Dr. Robert and Norma Clark’s generous sup-
port of the history department has helped make the lecture series possible
and thus has directly contributed to this volume. Bob Clark has also audited
nine of my courses, including every graduate seminar I have taught, and has
improved them all with his keen reading and sharp questions.
It has been a pleasure to work with the University Press of Kentucky
in the production of this book. Stephen Wrinn and Anne Dean Watkins
vii
viii Acknowledgments
quickly dispelled any worries I had when Joyce left the press. Steve and
Anne Dean took over the project and did a great job of encouraging me and
keeping the project on time. The press also picked good readers for both the
proposal and the manuscript. Martin Crawford, Ken Noe, and the anony-
mous reader all saw promise in this project and offered constructive criti-
cisms that made it better.
I am neither an Appalachianist nor an Appalachian. Thus, at every stage
of this project I have been struck by how welcoming and generous Appa-
lachian historians have been to a newcomer to their field. I appreciate the
contributors’ interest in this project, and getting to know and work with
them has been a pleasure. They were extremely patient with a novice editor.
I particularly want to thank John Inscoe for his advice on editing a collec-
tion of essays and his meticulous reading of my chapter in this volume.
In my six years at ETSU, I have started learning about Appalachia.
Some of this education has come from my students, but I have also ben-
efited from being academic director of the local Teaching American His-
tory Grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education. The grant has
enabled me to meet hundreds of area schoolteachers and to travel through-
out the region. While beginning work on this volume, I decided that one
of the grant’s summer institutes for teachers should focus on Altina Waller’s
wonderful Feud: Hatfields, McCoys, and Social Change in Appalachia,
1860–1900. Besides just reading and discussing the book, I wanted the
teachers and myself to experience the places and the environment viscer-
ally. Grant director Deborah Montanti encouraged me to follow the vision,
and Kevin Barksdale made it possible, taking us on an amazing two-day
trip to Matewan, Beckley, Bramwell, and Pocahontas. Kevin, with the help
of Paul Lutz and Bill Richardson, enabled us to experience Appalachia in a
way few outsiders can. One of the highlights was sitting in rocking chairs
on the porch of our hotel in Beckley and listening to upper East Tennessee
school teachers discuss the nature of Appalachia. It has become a cliché that
research informs teaching, but the combination of my experiences with the
Teaching American History Grant and working on this project have cer-
tainly improved my understanding of the students at ETSU and thus my
teaching.
The collaborative environment of the ETSU history department has
made this project more enjoyable and improved this volume. Colleagues
such as Steve Fritz and Mel Page regularly offered encouragement and
advice. When Dale Schmitt was director of graduate studies, he allowed
Acknowledgments ix
me to change my general Civil War–era graduate seminar into a post–Civil
War Appalachia course at the last minute. I benefited from reading and dis-
cussing some of the seminal works in Appalachian history with the graduate
students in the course. Kyle Osborn and Meredith Bocian deserve special
recognition, as I had the privilege of directing both of their MA theses on
Civil War–era East Tennessee. I have learned a great deal about the region’s
history and how to advise graduate students from Kyle and Meredith. The
only reasons Meredith does not have an essay in this collection are that her
thesis focused on the antebellum period and she was still working on it
when the essays were due. Both have gone on to work with top scholars in
Appalachian history, Kyle with John Inscoe and Meredith with Ken Noe.
I look forward to watching both Kyle and Meredith’s careers develop over
the coming years.
Tom Lee is exactly what one hopes for in a colleague. Other than a few
wry comments about me trying to make him redundant, Tom encouraged
me to pursue this project, agreed to contribute an essay, and did not object
when I asked to teach a graduate seminar in his specialty. Tom generously
spent time discussing books and Appalachian historiography with me. He
read my chapter during finals week so I could meet a deadline, and he
greatly improved it with his close reading and insightful analysis.
When I received copies of my first monograph in early 2007, I told
Nicole that the next couple of years would be less hectic than the preced-
ing ones had been. A few weeks later I started this project, and Nicole
said she would never again believe promises about work being less hec-
tic, though she added that she had never really expected anything else.
As always, Nicole’s patience and help have made my work possible. Our
daughter, Abby, two years old when I began working on this book, did not
display much patience; but she did help by occasionally running into my
office to play for a few minutes, reminding me of what is important. Maybe
it even helped that, unlike her parents, Abby was born in upper East Ten-
nessee and is a native Appalachian.