In today's world, Southern Unionist is a topic of constant interest and relevance in society. Whether for its impact on daily life, the global economy, or the environment, Southern Unionist has gained prominence in many areas of study and debate. As interest in Southern Unionist continues to grow, it is important to understand its implications and consequences in various aspects of modern life. In this article, we will explore the different facets of Southern Unionist and how its influence is shaping our world.
White Southerners opposed to secession and the American Civil War
This article is about anti-secessionism in the southern United States. For pro-UK sentiment in Ireland outside Northern Ireland, see Unionism in Ireland.
The term Southern Unionist, and its variations, incorporate a spectrum of beliefs and actions. Some, such as Texas governor Sam Houston, were vocal in their support of Southern interests, but believed that those interests could best be maintained by remaining in the Union as it existed. Some Unionists initially opposed secession (especially in the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia), but afterward either actively served and fought with the Confederate armies, or supported the Confederacy in other ways. Others refused to fight, went North or stayed North to enlist in the Union Army, or fought informally as partisans in the South. Some remained in the South and tried to stay neutral. The term could also be used for any Southerner who worked with the Republican Party or Union government in any capacity after the war ended in 1865.
A study of Southern Unionists in Alabama who continued to support the Union during the war found that they were typically "old fashioned" or "Jackson" conservative Democrats, or former Whigs, who viewed the federal government as worthy of defending because it had provided economic and political security. They saw secession as dangerous, illegitimate, and contrary to the intentions of the Founding Fathers, and believed that the Confederacy could not improve on the United States government. The desire for security was a motivation for Unionist slaveholders, who feared that secession would cause a conflict that would result in the loss of their slaves; however, some stated that they would rather give up slavery than dissolve the Union. The Southern ideals of honor, family, and duty were as important to Unionists as to their pro-secession neighbors. They believed, however, that rebelling against the United States, which many of their ancestors had fought for in 1776 and 1812, was the unmanly and dishonorable act.
Baggett study
In 2003, historian James Alex Baggett profiled more than 1,400 Southern political activists (742 Southern Unionists, and 666 Redeemers who eventually replaced them) in three regions (the Upper South, the Southeast, and the Southwest). He coded them as follows:
Baggett claimed that each activist's score was roughly proportional to the probability that the activist was a Southern Unionist. Baggett further investigated the lives of those Southern Unionists before, during, and after the war, with respect to birthplace, occupation, value of estate, slave ownership, education, party activity, stand on secession, war politics, and postwar politics.
History
Before the war there was widespread belief in the North that the states that had not yet seceded might be persuaded to stay within the Union. This idea was predicated on the fact that many believed that the newly elected President Lincoln would declare a relaxed policy toward the South that would ease tensions. Given the fact that there were a good number of Southern Unionists known to be found in the South it was hoped that this deliberate policy of non-provocation would subvert extremists from irreversible action. Admirable though their sentiments might have been, the claims of these Northerners were greatly embellished. In fact, there were fewer Unionists in the South than many Northerners believed, and they tended to be concentrated in areas such as northwest Virginia,East Tennessee, and parts of North Carolina where slave owners and slaves themselves were few. Furthermore, in the states that had already seceded, irreversible action had already taken place; federal buildings, mints, and courthouses had been seized.
Many Southern soldiers remained loyal when their states seceded. During the war, many Southern Unionists went North and joined the Union armies. Others joined when Union armies entered their hometowns in Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and elsewhere. Around 100,000 Southern Unionists served in the Union Army during the Civil War, with every Southern state except South Carolina raising organizations of white troops. Though no regiments of Southern Unionists were formed in South Carolina due to a smaller unionist presence, the Upstate region of the state would be a haven for Confederate Army deserters and resisters, as they used the Upstate topography and traditional community relations to resist service in the Confederate ranks.
State
White soldiers serving in the Union Army (other branches unlisted)
Yes and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears,
When they saw the honored flag they had not seen for years;
Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers,
While we were marching through Georgia.
Southern Unionists were extensively used as anti-guerrilla forces and as occupation troops in areas of the Confederacy occupied by the Union. Ulysses S. Grant noted:
We had many regiments of brave and loyal men who volunteered under great difficulty from the twelve million belonging to the South.
Nickajack – Region in East Tennessee and northern Alabama
United Empire Loyalists – Title given to loyalists during the American Revolution who resettled in colonial CanadaPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Wheeling Convention – 1861 secession movement of West Virginia from Virginia
Notes
^ abPhilip B. Lyons, Statesmanship and Reconstruction: Moderate Versus Radical Republicans on Restoring the Union After the Civil War (Lexington Books, 2014), p. 262: "Hart was one of the first native white Union Loyalists to speak out in favor of black suffrage and equal rights."
^Richard Nelson Current, Lincoln's Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy (Northeastern University Press: 1992).
^Lause, Mark A.; Race and Radicalism in the Union Army, p. 5 ISBN0252034465
^Storey, Margaret M. (February 2003). "Civil War Unionists and the Political Culture of Loyalty in Alabama, 1860-1861". The Journal of Southern History. 69 (1): 71–106. doi:10.2307/30039841. JSTOR30039841.
^[Snell, Mark A., West Virginia and the Civil War, History Press, 2011, pgs. 28-29 ISBN978-1-59629-888-0 "The discrepancy between the Union low figure of approximately twenty thousand to the 'official' high of thirty-two thousand can be explained by the fact that thousands of enlistees in West Virginia's Union regiments were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio..."
^Gary Matthews, More American Than Southern Kentucky, Slavery, and the War for an American Ideology, 1828-1861 (University of Tennessee, 2014), p. 1: "Anderson ... was a staunch unionist."
^William W. Freehling, The South Vs. The South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 145.
^Susan Wyley-Jones. ‘Petigru, James Louis.’ Encyclopedia of the American Civil War (2002), eds. David Stephen Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler, and David J. Coles. W. W. Norton: p. 1504-05.
^Edward R. Crowther. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War (2002), eds. David Stephen Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler, and David J. Coles. W. W. Norton: p. 298-9.
^Lonnie Maness, Henry Emerson Etheridge, Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved: 22 April 2014.
^Spencer C. Tucker, The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia (Vol. 1: ABC-CLIO, 2011), pp. 183-84.
^Derek W. Frisby. ‘Forrest, Nathan Bedford.’ Encyclopedia of the American Civil War (2002), eds. David Stephen Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler, and David J. Coles. W. W. Norton: p. 721.
^Paul Bergeron, Andrew Johnson, Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved: 3 May 2013.
^Thomas Alexander, ‘Strange Bedfellows: The Interlocking Careers of T.A.R. Nelson, Andrew Johnson, and W.G. (Parson) Brownlow,’ East Tennessee Historical Society Publications, No. 24 (1952), pp. 68-91.
^James Marten, Texas Divided: Loyalty and Dissent in the Lone Star State, 1856-1874 (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), pp. 115-16.
^James Marten, Texas Divided: Loyalty and Dissent in the Lone Star State, 1856-1874 (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), pp. 69-70.
^ abcdefOtis K. Rice & Stephen W. Brown, West Virginia: A History (University Press of Kentucky: 2d ed. 1993), p. 154: "Unconditional Unionists, such as Arthur I. Boreman, Archibald W. Campbell, Waitman T. Willey, and Chester D. Hubbard, were ready to accept emancipation of slaves, imposed by Congress, and wartime proscriptions, including suspension of habeas corpus, of the Lincoln administration in return for statehood. Conservative Unionists, including John S. Carlile, Sherrard Clemens, John J. Jackson, and John J. Davis, would jeopardize statehood rather than bow to a government that they perceived as dictatorial and abolitionist."
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