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Summary
Summary
Gotham at War is an accessible, entertaining account of America's biggest and most powerful urban center during the Civil War. New York City mobilized an enthusiastic but poorly trained military force during the first month of the war that helped protect Washington, D.C., from Confederate capture. Its strong financial support for the national government may well have saved the Union. New York served as a center for manpower, military supplies, and shipbuilding. And medically, New York became a center for efforts to provide for sick and wounded soldiers.
Yet, despite being a major Northern city, New York also had strong sympathy for the South. Parts of the city were strongly racist, hostile to the abolition of slavery and to any real freedom for black Americans. The hostility of many New Yorkers to the military draft culminated in one of the greatest of all urban upheavals, the draft riots of July 1863.
Edward K. Spann brings his experience as an urban historian to provide insights on both the varied ways in which the war affected the city and the ways in which the city's people and industry influenced the divided nation. This is the first book to assess the city's contributions to the Civil War.Gotham at War examines the different sides of the city as some fought to sustain the Union while others opposed the war effort and sided with the South. This unique book will entertain all readers interested in the Civil War and New York City.
About the AuthorEdward K. Spann is professor emeritus of history at Indiana State University. He is a specialist in nineteenth-century history and urban history. Spann has authored a number of books, including The New Metropolis: New York City 1840-1857 and Ideals and Politics: New York Intellectuals and Liberal Democracy , which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Author Notes
Edward K. Spann is emeritus professor of history and distinguished professor in arts and sciences at Indiana State University.
Reviews (2)
Choice Review
Spann (emer., Indiana State Univ.; The New Metropolis: New York City, 1840-1857, CH, Jan'82) surveys the experience of New York City (NYC) during the US Civil War. He begins by examining the city's mayor (southern sympathizer Fernando Wood), volunteer forces, and economic contributions to the Union's war effort. Later chapters coherently analyze race, ethnicity, immigration, labor, and manufacturing. However, in so doing, the author makes a number of overgeneralizations. For instance, during a discussion of volunteer soldiers, Spann asserts that "slaveholding society tended to breed soldiers," while "the metropolis bred a diverse mix of personalities oriented toward peaceful pursuits." Moreover, Spann provides citations for most of the direct quotes, but rarely cites other information. If the work is intended for undergraduate students studying NYC or the US Civil War, then historians should be aware of this aspect of the book. Otherwise, this is an extremely readable overview of NYC's contributions to and experiences during the US Civil War. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General and undergraduate collections. T. D. Beal SUNY College at Oneonta
Library Journal Review
Although its inhabitants were not uniform in opinion, New York City nevertheless played a major role in the Civil War. Spann (history, emeritus, Indiana State Univ.; Metropolis: New York City, 1840-1857) discusses the important part that the city played in the war, from sending a force to defend Washington, DC, against Confederate capture in the spring of 1861 to ultimate Union victory in April 1865. New York was ever present as a center of military manpower, the source of strong financial support, and a center of military supplies and naval shipbuilding. But New York also had strong Southern sympathies and commercial interests based on prewar business dealings with Southern plantation owners. As became clear in the terrible draft riots of 1863, many New Yorkers also held violently racist views and were hostile to the draft and to the abolition of slavery. Spann provides welcome insight into these matters in a clear, workmanlike writing style. Recommended for New York City and Civil War collections of academic libraries.-Harry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. xi |
| Chapter 1 The Road to War, 1860-61 | p. 1 |
| Chapter 2 Patriotism in Action, 1861 | p. 17 |
| Chapter 3 War on the Sea | p. 31 |
| Chapter 4 The Business of Supply | p. 45 |
| Chapter 5 Mobilization for Real | p. 57 |
| Chapter 6 Tender Mercies | p. 71 |
| Chapter 7 A Democratic World | p. 83 |
| Chapter 8 Riots and Relief | p. 93 |
| Chapter 9 The Ethnic Dimension | p. 107 |
| Chapter 10 The Race Angle | p. 121 |
| Chapter 11 Rebuilding Prosperity | p. 135 |
| Chapter 12 Wealth and Its Exceptions | p. 145 |
| Chapter 13 A Threatening World | p. 155 |
| Chapter 14 The Politics of War and Peace | p. 165 |
| Chapter 15 The Manpower Business | p. 177 |
| Chapter 16 Victory and Beyond | p. 187 |
| Epilogue: A World Restored | p. 199 |
| Bibliographical Essay | p. 203 |
| Index | p. 207 |
