
The Won Cause
Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic
Barbara A. Gannon(Author)
The University of North Carolina Press
Published on 30. May 2011
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-0-8078-3452-7 (ISBN)
Description
In the years after the Civil War, black and white Union soldiers who survived the horrific struggle joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)--the Union army's largest veterans' organization. In this thoroughly researched and groundbreaking study, Barbara Gannon chronicles black and white veterans' efforts to create and sustain the nation's first interracial organization. According to the conventional view, the freedoms and interests of African American veterans were not defended by white Union veterans after the war, despite the shared tradition of sacrifice among both black and white soldiers. In The Won Cause , however, Gannon challenges this scholarship, arguing that although black veterans still suffered under the contemporary racial mores, the GAR honored its black members in many instances and ascribed them a greater equality than previous studies have shown. Using evidence of integrated posts and veterans' thoughts on their comradeship and the cause, Gannon reveals that white veterans embraced black veterans because their membership in the GAR demonstrated that their wartime suffering created a transcendent bond--comradeship--that overcame even the most pernicious social barrier--race-based separation. By upholding a more inclusive memory of a war fought for liberty as well as union, the GAR's ""Won Cause"" challenged the Lost Cause version of Civil War memory. |In this thoroughly researched and groundbreaking study, Gannon chronicles black and white veterans' efforts to create and sustain the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)--the Union army's largest veterans' organization and the nation's first interracial organization.
More details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8078-3452-7 (9780807834527)
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E-Book
05/2011
The University of North Carolina Press
€19.49
Available for download
Person
Barbara A. Gannon is assistant professor of military history at the University of Central Florida.