North Carolinian Ambivalence: Rethinking Loyalty and Disaffection in the Civil War Piedmont

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the issue of southern loyalty during the American Civil War, which has been a recurrent staple for nineteenth-century historians since Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. In the past decade, however, it has evoked particular interest and controversy. The extent to which southerners rallied to the Confederate cause and sustained their commitment to the war has been the focus of considerable debate and much excellent work. Even so, there are few signs of general agreement: scholars remain bitterly divided on the question of southern lower-class loyalty during the war. On one side, historians such as Paul D. Escott, Wayne K. Durrill, and most recently, David Williams argue that class divisions seriously undermined the Confederate cause.