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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 973.741 CUR | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A meticulously researched treatment of a topic seldom examined by historians . . . an excellent and significant contribution to Civil War literature. -- Kirkus Reviews
Author Notes
Born in Colorado City, Colorado, on October 5, 1912, Richard Nelson Current received his B.A. from Oberlin College and went on to earn an M.S. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a Ph.D. in history (1939) at the University of Wisconsin. Current taught at a number of institutions, including Rutgers University, Lawrence College, Mills College, the University of Illinois, and the University of Wisconsin before becoming Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1966--1983). He also taught in Japan, India, the Netherlands, Australia, Chile, and Germany. He was Harmsworth Professor at Oxford University.
Current wrote about historical subjects ranging from the invention of the typewriter to American diplomacy. In 2000, he won the Lincoln Prize for lifetime achievement in the area of best non-fiction historical work pertaining to the American Civil War .
Current died on October 26, 2012 at age 100. He is buried in Greensboro, NC.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Nearly 100,000 men from Confederate states organized into battalions to fight with the armies of the North. These ``unknown soldiers of the Civil War'' represented 10% of the fighting force under Gen. Robert E. Lee's command, a significant loss to the strength of the South and an important resource for the North. They risked not only the dangers of war, but the certainty of being treated as deserters if taken prisoners. After the war their lives were endangered by the hostility of their embittered neighbors; some were beaten, ``hunted down like dogs'' or killed outright. There was little help from the North, struggling in the aftermath of Lincoln's death with the formidable problems of mending the nation. Although there is a considerable literature about the black soldiers who fought with the armies of the North, Current ( Those Terrible Carpetbaggers ) contends that little attention has been paid to these forgotten white Union loyalists. Drawing on overlooked sources, he provides an original and comprehensive, state-by-state account of their struggles and contributions. History Book Club alternate. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A meticulously researched treatment of a topic seldom examined by historians: the white Southerners, contemptuously called ``Tories'' by their Confederate brethren, who served in the Federal armies during the Civil War. As Current (Those Terrible Carpetbaggers, 1987, etc.) points out, the overwhelming majority of the more than 100,000 white Southerners in the US forces came from staunchly Unionist areas of eastern Tennessee and western Virginia (including the new state of West Virginia), but every Confederate state except South Carolina contributed regiments to the US Army. Large areas of predominately Union sentiment existed in North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas, and US armies conducted successful conscription programs in occupied areas in Louisiana and Arkansas. Current emphasizes that many of these men took up arms for the Union at considerable personal risk- -they and their families faced opprobrium and ostracism in their communities, and, if captured, often harsher treatment than other Federal prisoners (if, as was often the case, they joined the US Army after deserting the Confederate forces, they were executed if recaptured). Noting the mixed war record of the pro-Union Southerners--some, like the First Alabama Calvary, the First Tennessee Calvary, and the Seventh Virginia Infantry, served with distinction, while others performed more unevenly--Current argues persuasively that, whatever their record, Southern loyalists represented a loss to the Confederacy even more grievous than the black regiments organized by the Union, ``since the whites composed a part of the Confederacy's military potential and the blacks did not: the war was over before the Jefferson Davis government got around to employing blacks as soldiers.'' A deeper study of the sociology of pro-Union sentiment in the South would have enhanced the text; but, still, an excellent and significant contribution to Civil War literature.
Booklist Review
This well-researched, well-written monograph covers some of the forgotten men of the Civil War. More than 100,000 men from states that actually joined the Confederacy served in the Union Army, strengthening it and notably weakening the Southern cause. Current abbreviates his coverage by excluding Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky, which did not secede, and feels that black troops recruited in the South have already received, if not enough, then certainly more coverage than their white counterparts. Presuming some prior Civil War knowledge, Current's overdue tribute to men who served the Union cause well, thereby dramatizing one weakness of the Confederacy, is more likely to find use in larger collections in which its extensive annotation will help serious scholars. ~--Roland Green
Choice Review
If an estimated 900,000 Confederate soldiers confronting 2,000,000 federal troops nearly won the Civil War, what could the South have accomplished with 100,000 more men? Yet that many white troops from the 11 Confederate states fought for the North. Every Confederate state contributed to Abraham Lincoln's army. Tennessee and Virginia (including West Virginia) together provided 70% of the total, Georgia and South Carolina only a handful. In this first, long-overdue study to analyze these Southern loyalists (or tories), Current discusses their motivation, war record, and postwar role. Current, author of a full shelf of major historical studies, takes a fresh look at neglected primary sources to revivify forgotten men of the Civil War. This fascinating account will attract readers and researchers in every library. All levels. J. Y. Simon; Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
Library Journal Review
White Southerners from every state in the Confederacy (except South Carolina) served in the Union forces during the Civil War, but no historical account of their activities existed before this outstanding book. Lincoln's Loyalists examines why these soldiers fought for the Union, how they fared in battle, how other soldiers--in both armies--treated them, and what kind of conditions their families endured. Noted Civil War scholar Current ( Arguing with Historians , LJ 10/15/87) honors the dedication of Southerners who opposed the Confederacy and took a stand against secession. For all Civil War collections. History Book Club alternate.--W. Walter Wicker, Louisiana Tech Univ., Ruston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
