Enemies of the Country

Essays on residents of the Confederacy who took a stand for the Union This book explores the family and community dynamics of the Unionist experience in the Civil War South. Enemies of the Country profiles men and women of the Confederate states who, in addition to the wartime burdens endured by most southerners, had to cope with being a detested minority. With one exception, these featured individuals were white, but they otherwise represent a wide spectrum of the southern citizenry. They include natives to the region, foreign immigrants and northern transplants, affluent and poor, farmers and merchants, politicians and journalists, slaveholders and nonslaveholders. Some resided in highland areas and in remote parts of border states, the two locales with which southern Unionists are commonly associated. Others, however, lived in the Deep South and in urban settings. Together the portraits underscore how varied Unionist identities and motives were, and how fluid and often fragile the personal, familial, and local circumstances of Unionist allegiance could be.