Edited by Charles W. Mitchell
Illustrated, endnotes, bibliographic note, index, 548 pp., 2007. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2715 North Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218-4363, $35.00 plus shipping.
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.
Review:
Maryland was truly a state divided by contrasting loyalties, even within the same family, during the Civil War period. Charles W. Mitchell, a Marylander by birth, has edited a fine collection of primary sources portraying this divisiveness in his book Maryland Voices of the Civil War by allowing the people to speak for themselves.
Three letters quoted on the rear dust jacket reveal the gamut of emotions in a single family. Rebecca Davis’ father proclaimed himself a Unionist, while her mother announced “Let Maryland remain neutral…” and her brother pronounced himself “a straight out ‘States Rights’ man….”
Maryland Voices of the Civil War is especially interesting since it uses dozens of actual accounts to define the struggles particular to the so-called border states and describe how daily life was altered. Perhaps due to its proximity to the nation’s capital, Maryland’s civil liberties were greatly changed. The chapters on slaves, slave owners and freedmen, along with the usually unheard voices of women, add to the book’s value.
Mitchell’s anthology is a thoughtful blend of his narrative, which serves as the linkage, and a variety of voices from letters, diaries, journals and newspaper accounts that present the passions of the era in very personal terms.
Mitchell, however, is more than an editor. Maryland Voices is divided into three sections —“Indecision,” Occupation” and “Liberation.” Each section, in turn, is subdivided into chapters constructed in a chronological order. Well-written essays by Mitchell introduce each section along with a summarizing Epilogue.
Each chapter is actually a well-constructed narrative neatly connecting expertly selected first- hand accounts which are meaningfully related to the chapter’s theme. Mitchell skillfully weaves each theme and the primary sources. Maryland Voices certainly functions as a model of this genre.
The book is highly recommended for its masterful presentation of primary sources. Illustrated with a generous mix of period newspaper engravings and contemporary photographs, this study provides a fresh depiction of the struggles of all facets of Maryland society during this tempestuous time.
Mitchell’s format allows the people of the time to speak for themselves, thus creating a realistic portrait of the Civil War in Maryland. Maryland Voices of the Civil War deserves to be in the library of anyone interest in mid-19th century American history.