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Book Reviews These are some reviews from a recent issue of
The Civil War News:
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“War Governor of the South”: North Carolina’s Zeb Vance in the Confederacy
Joe A. Mobley
Illustrated, notes, index, xiv, 272 pp. 2005. University Press of Florida, 15 NW 15th St., Gainesville, FL 32611-2079, $39.95 plus shipping.
The role state rights played in the failure of the Confederacy has long been one of the more controversial topics in Civil War historiography. The foremost exponent of the thesis that attachment to the principle of state rights compromised the ability of Jefferson Davis and his government to conduct the war in the most effective manner was Frank L. Owsley. In State Rights in the Confederacy, Owsley especially took Governor Zebulon Vance to task for supposedly placing his commitment to the interests of his state above those of the Confederate nation. Vance, however, has not been without defenders. The latest is Joe A. Mobley, whose new book offers an effective examination of Vance’s career as wartime governor of North Carolina. Mobley’s work is, generally speaking, organized topically. The book’s first chapter examines the first 32 years of Vance’s life and his path from unionist to secessionist to commander of the 26th North Carolina to governor of the Old North State in September 1862. This is followed by a chapter that effectively counters the image of Vance as obstructionist to the larger Confederate war effort. It presents the governor as a man whose devotion to Confederate victory was manifest in his efforts to deal with desertion and Unionist regions within the state, federal forces occupying the coastal area of North Carolina, a judge who obstructed efforts to arrest deserters and conscript men into the army, and what Vance perceived to be a failure of others to give his state’s soldiers sufficient credit for their performance and contributions on the battlefield. To be sure, Mobley notes, the relationship between Vance and President Davis was often a tense one. However, he argues that “historians should be cautious about inferring from the disagreements between Davis and Vance that the governor was anything less than totally committed to the Confederacy” and points out that Vance in fact “made conscientious efforts to cooperate and compromise with the Davis government.” Mobley then addresses how Vance dealt with the real and potential fallout from the Lincoln administration’s decision to make emancipation a part of the Union war effort. This is followed by chapters on Vance’s dealings with the Unionist government that was established in eastern North Carolina in 1862 and the developing peace movement within the state, his successful re-election campaign against William W. Holden, and his efforts to work around and through the Union blockade to secure supplies for his state and the Confederacy. The book’s final chapters look at the contributions of North Carolina women to the war, their problems and discontent and Vance’s efforts to address them, and Vance’s activities as the Confederacy collapsed in 1864 and 1865. Vance’s postwar career and the book’s main points are nicely summed up in a brief epilogue. All of these chapters are clearly written, informative, well-organized, and provide useful insights into the challenges Vance faced. Moreover, Mobley’s arguments are underpinned by solid research in primary and secondary sources. In short, “War Governor of the South” is distinguished by the qualities that make a book a worthy contribution to literature and should find a place on the reading lists of those interested in the Civil War, the role one state played in the Southern war effort, and the reasons for Confederate defeat.
Ethan S. Rafuse
Ethan S. Rafuse is associate professor of military history at the U. S. Army Command and General Staff College. His publications include A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas; George Gordon Meade and the War in the East; and, most recently, McClellan’s War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union.
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