
The Yankee Plague
Escaped Union Prisoners and the Collapse of the Confederacy
Lorien Foote(Author)
The University of North Carolina Press
Will be published approx. on 30. November 2016
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-4696-3055-7 (ISBN)
Description
During the winter of 1864, more than 3,000 Federal prisoners of warescaped from Confederate prison camps into South Carolina and NorthCarolina, often with the aid of local slaves. Their flight created, in the wordsof contemporary observers, a "Yankee plague," heralding a grim end to theConfederate cause. In this fascinating look at Union soldiers' flight for freedomin the last months of the Civil War, Lorien Foote reveals new connectionsbetween the collapse of the Confederate prison system, the large-scaleescape of Union soldiers, and the full unraveling of the Confederate States ofAmerica. By this point in the war, the Confederacy was reeling from prisonoverpopulation, a crumbling military, violence from internal enemies, andslavery's breakdown. The fugitive Federals moving across the countryside inmass numbers, Foote argues, accelerated the collapse as slaves and desertersdecided the presence of these men presented an opportune moment forescalated resistance.
Blending rich analysis with an engaging narrative, Foote uses these raggedUnion escapees as a lens with which to assess the dying ConfederateStates, providing a new window into the South's ultimate defeat.
Blending rich analysis with an engaging narrative, Foote uses these raggedUnion escapees as a lens with which to assess the dying ConfederateStates, providing a new window into the South's ultimate defeat.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
10 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
515 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4696-3055-7 (9781469630557)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Lorien Foote is professor of history at Texas A&M University, USA.