The London Confederates: The Officials, Clergy, Businessmen, and Journalists Who Backed the American South During the Civil War Blue & Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War
The London Confederates: The Officials, Clergy, Businessmen, and Journalists Who Backed the American South During the Civil War by John D. Bennett. Illustrated, map, chronology, appendices, endnotes, bibliography, index, 206 pp., 2008, McFarland, www.mcfarlandpub.com, $55. Blue & Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations by Howard Jones. Illustrated, endnotes, bibliography, index, 416 pp., 2010, University of North Carolina Press, http://uncpress.unc.edu, $30. The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War by Brian Schoen. Illustrated, maps, endnotes, bibliography, index, 369 pp., 2009, Johns Hopkins University Press, www.press.jhu.edu, $55.
In 1998 the eminent Civil War historians James McPherson and William J. Cooper edited Writing the Civil War, which consists of a series of 12 essays on many aspects of Civil War scholarship. Not one mentions the diplomacy of that period. While there are thousands of books written about the military and domestic politics of the Civil War period, there is a paucity of works on diplomacy, and a mere handful study statesmanship from the perspective of all nations involved. Each of these three titles focuses on foreign affairs and greatly advances Civil War historiography. Individually and collectively they will challenge and change the manner in which we view diplomacy of that period. These books have four similarities. First, each provides a fresh perspective centering on foreign affairs. Second, while readers may not totally agree with the conclusions drawn by the authors, these books are bound to create thoughtful dialogue. Third, each contains a meticulous examination of primary sources, compelling and well-developed arguments, and groundbreaking theories. Fourth, each is very well written. Brian Schoen’s The Fragile Fabric of Union begins with the earliest examination of the road to civil war by exploring the role of cotton on the world market between 1787 and 1861, while Blue & Gray Diplomacy by Howard Jones chronicles the Civil War years, 1861-1865. John D. Bennett’s study, The London Confederates, covers the same years as Jones but is much more specific in scope. Schoen, like Marc Egnal in his Clash of Extremes (2009), places emphasis on the economic origins of the Civil War. While Egnal puts more weight on domestic economic differences, however, Schoen challenges previous studies and underscores the impact of external global economics as a primary cause of the Civil War. This contention is likely to stir controversy and healthy debate. Schoen, in a lively style, analyzes the evolution of slavery as the South’s peculiar labor system, territorial expansion of slavery, and the rise of cotton as the United States’ leading export by 1860. Cotton accounted for less than a percent of the new nation’s exports in 1787 but rose to 77 percent of the exports in 1861. Schoen makes use of primary sources and charts to present his in-depth history of how cotton created a separate labor system and matching political system in the Deep South. Tracing what became an inflated view of the power of cotton dating to the War of 1812, Schoen concludes, “the primary cause of Southern secession was (author’s italic) the Deep South’s unabashed commitment to a system of slavery it thought necessary for its economic success, social stability, and political power.” Schoen’s thesis stresses external global conditions that eventually led to the Civil War. The strengths of The Fragile Fabric of Union are the depth of the author’s analysis of primary sources and his fresh reexamination of the war’s origins. While this is certainly not the first book to reflect on economic origins of the Civil War, it is a provocative inquiry. Schoen’s work on British and American antebellum foreign relations, the debates concerning the role of slavery in the United States, cotton and slavery’s domination of American politics, and the need for territorial expansion by cotton planters foreshadows Howard Jones’ study of the diplomacy of the Civil War era. His Blue & Gray Diplomacy goes well beyond the usual simplistic overview of mid-19th century international affairs. While subtitled A History of Union and Confederate Relations, this book transcends that topic. It is a full account of diplomacy among the two belligerents and major foreign powers — Britain, France, Russia and Spain. Diplomatic debates and intrigues are related from the perspective of each power. Howard makes use of a well-balanced synthesis of the most recent scholarship in the field along with a thorough analysis of American and European primary sources of the period to explore the issues and problems facing all involved diplomats. Jones’ lively narrative successfully probes the major issues facing diplomats during the five-year span covered by his book. He concludes that British neutrality and the duplicity of Napoleon III prolonged the war by providing the Confederates with false hopes of recognition and intervention. The author details the role of cotton, the Trent Affair and France’s Mexican adventure. Also, he suggests, the South fought a “lost cause.” Others may certainly question Jones’ conclusions; however, he presents a strong defense of his views. This is probably the best book written on the topic to date, and it should be required reading for anyone interested in the Civil War or diplomacy of the 19th century. While Jones’ Blue & Gray Diplomacy views events in the capitals of the nations involved, John D. Bennett’s study focuses on wartime London. Who better to write an account of London and its connections to the Confederacy during the Civil War than someone from England? Bennett lives in Leicester and has a long-standing interest in the Confederate Navy. His The London Confederates is a groundbreaking history that studies Brits who supported and supplied the Confederacy and Southern operatives in London. The author probes the political events in Britain, Confederate and Union surveillance and espionage systems there, and the various English businessmen who supplied the Confederacy with funds, loans or materials. Although Liverpool was the center of shipbuilding for the South and a port for blockade-runners, Bennett concentrates on London as the seat of government — thus the center of political, economic and social activities. While Britain never officially recognized the Confederacy, Bennett states that Confederate agents spent over $12 million on supplies and arms and that “without these the South would almost certainly have been defeated much sooner.” Bennett also demonstrates the impact and importance of British cotton loans. The first chapter is a fascinating overview of the streets, hotels, restaurants and entertainment sites of 1860 London. In the following chapters the author discusses arms procurement, construction of the Laird rams and the successes of the Confederate Navy raiders against Union commerce. A number of appendices list firms linked to the Confederacy with a gazetteer of sites of extant buildings in London. Contemporary line drawings and photographs taken by the author accompany the text. This trio of books is required reading for anyone interested in Civil War history or the inner workings of 19th century diplomacy. Reviewer: Michael Russert Michael Russert, a member of the North Shore Round Table of Long Island and the Company of Military Historians, has a MALS plus 60 hours in American Studies. He is Coordinator of The New York State Veteran Oral History Program.
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