This site is the outgrowth of six years of studying The Reconstruction Era. For several years I hosted a forum on the popular Civil War Talk Message Board where I posted primary sources, book reviews, and commentary on different aspects of the Reconstruction Era. Now I feel confident enough in my evolving understanding of the period to start a regular blog on the topic.
The blog will follow the course of Reconstruction from 1862 until 1900. It will look at the struggle for (and against) civil rights for African Americans, the political struggles in Washington and the states, the impact of post-war on Union and Confederate war veterans, and the culture of Reconstruction.
This will not be a pretty subject. More people died in political violence during this time than in any other peacetime era in American history. Yet the successes and failures of Reconstruction are so important to modern day America, and so little known to most Americans, that I felt called to start this project.
Hope you enjoy it, and if not, I hope you learn from it.
Pat Young
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I think this is the best solution to express your views on Reconstruction. Look forward to more posts.
Thanks James.
As a fellow historian, I can tell you that I’m looking forward to reading this blog! The post Civil War years are so misunderstood and I’m glad to see that several historians, yourself included, are now focusing on the era. Let’s hope that the people who really need to read this blog can learn from our country’s mistakes.
Thanks Richard. Hopefully you’ll stop back and let me know how I am doing. I appreciate your kind words.
Thank you !!!
Looking forward to reading this!
Thank you for the effort you have an will be putting into this project. I am truly looking forward to reading this blog. I truly hope that we can learn and grow from the mistake and hatred that occurred during the reconstruction era.
This is a long time in coming, Pat. I have been slogging along side of you for the last three years, so the more focused, Reconstruction Era blog seems like a natural transition from the previous accessory forum. I have passed the word along via Twitter, so I hope to see familiar faces. BTW, I much prefer the tightly formatted, closely moderated platform of a blog, than the insult-laden environment that is fomented on some of the message boards.
Thanks Bee.
Hope this means I’m signed up. This looks wonderful.
I’m also a fellow historian, now retired, who taught Reconstruction for many years. Just found this site today and like what I see. I’m really looking forward to following your blog.
Thanks Maureen and David.
This is a valuable resource. It’s powerful to see the myth of the Lost Cause evaporate more and more as the reality of Reconstruction comes to the fore, with its initial hope and successes suppressed with brutality… the echoes of which we are struggling with even more today as the demographics of the Nation change and political power inevitably shifts. The scope and breadth of the Civil Rights movement post Civil War crystallized for me some time ago and your efforts tell the story crisply and clearly, rooted in facts. It’s a necessary thing. Thank you for your effort and contribution. I look forward to learning from your site.
Some thoughts. My family arrived in Louisiana around the 1890s from Sicily, (all 8 great grandparents). They settled in the Northeast part of the State, Monroe. I was born in New Orleans. I have driven the state for 30 years, excluding the 30 years I spent in Silicon Valley.
I had not heard of “the cult of Lost Cause” or “Myth of the Lost Cause” until 5 years ago when Mitch Landrieu, a classmate of mine, decided to make that his mantra. I really think a better title is the “Myth of Reconstruction.” The northerners that assumed political power in the south, passed high tax laws that caused real estate bankruptcies, which the northerners then bought. …The high taxes were given to the families of the northerners for projects that were never built. ….
Your blog might add a discussion about “Abolition Day” and several northern states had slavery months after the Civil War ended. … That the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to the parts of the South that were in Rebellion. It did not apply to New Orleans and 12 other Southeast parishes. After the Proclamation, the Union then recruited 200,000 freed slaves to fight against the Confederacy- hard to “unify” a state that had two groups fighting each other. … Today I will be visiting Grant’s Canal in which 500 freed slaves died of disease digging a canal Grant wanted to use near Vicksburg……
Approximately 1,000,000 freed slaves out of 4,000,000 died within 5 years of the war ending. How was Reconstruction supposed to care for a region of the country burned down by the Union? Right after conquering the South, the Union turned to conquering the Indians of the West. … There were no resources for “Reconstruction.”….
As far as the 1874 Battle of Liberty Place. … Many historians call it the White League doing a 3-day coup against a bi-racial government. They omit an important fact. The White League kept the State Treasurer in power as he was well respected and has elected to that office 3 times. However he was black and prior to the war he owned 100 slaves. Perhaps those facts undermine the narrative being told….. Also omitted is that the battle was triggered when the Governor abolished the New Orleans Police Department and created a regional police force that reported to him. He then told this force to confiscate guns….
The battle of September 14, 1874 was the Democrats storming a ship, the USS Mississippi, that had a shipment of guns on it headed to the Democratic candidate for Mayor of New Orleans, Charles Leeds.
The White League left behind extensive polemics explaining its goals. They always emphasized that the goal was to establish White Supremacy in the state. Hence the name of the organization. You can read more about them here:
https://thereconstructionera.com/tag/white-league/
Thanks. Most interesting. Regret that I am not Facebook subscriber. Wish there were an alternate source to access your blog.
F. Norman Vickers
Member Pensacola Civil War Roundtable
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