Damn Yankees! Demonization and Defiance in the Confederate South

Abstract

George C. Rable traces the depth and breadth of southern hatred of northerners before, during, and after the Civil War. He argues that their rhetoric continued well after the cessation of armed conflict, shaping the way southerners perceived the postbellum world and contributing to the fraught legacy of Reconstruction. To explore the ways white southerners vilified northerners Rable relies heavily on newspapers and examines political speeches and sermons as well. He also mines the letters and journals of soldiers and civilians, and draws heavily on evidence left by Confederate women, although largely those confined to the planter class. Rable's focus is on the power of language, demonstrating that a verbal war can have visceral consequences. White southerners' contempt for Yankees existed long before the start of hostilities. Those of Puritan background were seen as self-righteous and intolerant, and nascent Confederates compared them to the worst of every other nationality. This demonization only grew during the war as Confederates argued that Yankee society was rotten to the core and that Northerners were cowards and, consequently, unworthy enemies.