In the summer of 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia invaded Pennsylvania and inaugurated the Gettysburg Campaign. It was the only time during the war when an entire Confederate field army found itself on free soil, and as such, it provides a remarkable opportunity to explore the relationship between Confederate soldiers and Union civilians during the Civil War. Traditionally, advocates of the Lost Cause have contrasted the Army of Northern Virginias treatment of Pennsylvanias residents to Union armies conduct toward southern civilians. In an effort to prove the Confederacys righteousness and salvage pride in the face of defeat, many southerners have rallied to the ideals of the Lost Cause, and it comes across in their discussions of the Confederates march through Pennsylvania. Authors like Clifford Dowdey, Douglas Freeman, and Edward Pollard distinguish Lees Army of Northern Virginia and its second invasion of Union territory with an aura of epic restraint. As a result, the veil of the Lost Cause has obscured the true nature of the relationship between the Confederate invaders and the Union civilians in their path, and the myth has proven difficult for historians to dispel.
Interestingly, while popular perceptions of a Marble Man surrounded by an army of chivalrous soldier-saints persist, the historical record does not support these views. By examining a variety of sources and investigating various aspects of soldier-civilian relationships during the march, one can demonstrate that Confederate soldiers actually behaved no better or worse than their Union counterparts during Federal marches through the South. This dissertation endeavors to do just that by comprehensively exploring the actual nature of the relationship between Lees soldiers and Union civilians and the legacy of that relationship in history and memory. In doing so, it stands to fill a glaring gap in the historiography of the Civil War by continuing the tradition of scholarship on civilians in the path of Civil War presented in books like Stephen Ashs When the Yankees Came (1995), Anne Baileys War and Ruin (2002), Mark Grimsleys Hard Hand of War (1995), and Lee Kennetts Marching Through Georgia (1995).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-04132008-140127 |
| Date | 13 April 2008 |
| Creators | Frawley, Jason M. |
| Contributors | Steven E. Woodworth |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/msword |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-04132008-140127/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds