(1952), turned to the genre of a ternate history. I mentioned his book two years ago when I wrote in this space about fictional re tions of Confederates’ victory a Gettysburg. As you may recall, the counterfactual bookshelf offers quit a few scenarios. Pickett’s Charg cracks the Yankee line wide open (Winston Churchill, 1930). Stuar stays with Lee and the battle ne er happens (Otto Eisenschiml and E. B. Long, 1948). Ewell boldly takes Culp’s and Cemetery Hills (MacKinlay Kantor, 1960).
and Meade launches disastrous attacks (Mark Nesbitt, 1980; Newt Gingrich and William R. Fortschen, 2003). In Moore’s “What if?” the key to Lee’s victory at Gettysburg i the Confederate seizure of the Round Tops following their rout of the Union I and XI Corps on July 1. They bring artillery up the commanding heights that, on the second day, supports the Southern infantry’s savage attacks on Meade’s army. With Pickett’s charge on July 3, “the disorganized Federals were given the final killing blow in the vitals.” The protagonist in Bring the Jubilee is Hodgins McCormick Backmaker, the grandson of a Union Civil War veteran. On the very first page of the novel Backmaker refers to Lee’s vic-
tory, the Army of the Potomac’s “Great Retreat to Philadelphia,” and the fall of Washington. The
Union’s western forces bristled the idea of surrender, but after were defeated at Chattanooga, the Lincoln government sued for peace and formally recognized Southern independence.
Military counterfactuali in itself can be fun, but so can imagining America in the years after Confederate victory (as we
learned in MacKinlay Kantor’s If the South Had Won the Civil War). In Moore’s novel, the Nort American map was redrawn when Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri were included in the Confederate States. Dixie generously gave away western Virginia, but negotiators drew t Confederacy’s borders westward from Kansas to California, incor porating the southern reaches of that vast territory into the nas nation. As would occur in the Treaty of Versailles, the Peace of Richmond imposed a huge reparations bill upon the defeated North. Disgusted Northern voters threw the Republicans out, so Democratic presidents Clement Vallandigham and Horatio Seymour had to contend with the weakened U.S. economy. Rampant inflation made even life’s necessities unaffordable
in Northern cities during 1873– 74. Things got so bad in the U.S that for thousands of men and women, the only way to escape poverty was to sell themselves a indentured servants. To resurrect a two-party system in U.S. politics, the Whigs experienced a rebirth; in 1876 Benjamin F. Butler was elected the first Whig president sinc Zachary Taylor. He remained hobbled, though, by the widespread economic slump that had no end; the enormous reparations payments to the South had to be paid annually and in gold. Hodgins Backmaker, as a lad in the 1920s and ‘30s, recalled how his parents talked bitterly of how the War of Southron Independence “still, nearly seventy years later, blighted what was left of the United States.”
The North’s bleak economy even affected U.S. population numbers. Many people left the coun-
try; foreigners ceased to come, northern America was no longer a “land of opportunity.” Unable to support large families, most Northerners married late in life often raising only one child.
U.S. economic woes extended in every direction. While the Confederate States, like other prosperous nations (e.g., the German Union) had plenty of automotive cars (“minibiles”), they were rare in the North. Transcontinental railroads offer another index: the Confederacy had seven, British America one, and the United States zero. As for educational and cultural benchmarks, Confederate and European universities towered over decaying Northern institutions like Harvard and Yale Together with England, the Confederacy also led the western
world in book publishing. In 1938 the largest Northern New York, had a mere 1.5 million people, much smaller in size tha Confederate metropolises such as Washington (grown so large as to now take in Baltimore), St Louis, and Leesburg (formerly Mexico City). C.S. president Robert E. Lee, who succeeded Jefferson Davis, had opposed the Confederate conquest of Mexico, but he had bowed to a determined Congress before dying in office in the 1870s. Confederate colonialism also extended into South America, so that ca. 1944–52 the Confederacy had 50 million citizens and 250 million subjects. After the war the Confederacy also emancipated its slaves, but did not give them citizens’ righ including the vote, the same sta imposed upon Latinos after annexation of Mexico. Eventually
granted only to the posterity of citizens in the Confederacy as o July 1, 1864. In the North, blacks fared li tle better and in an economy of scarce resources, were encouraged to emigrate. Many moved westward to places like Idaho an Montana, where unconquered Sioux and Nez Perce Indians stil roamed. Such is the world as describe by Hodgins Backmaker after Robert E. Lee won the battle of Gettysburg. …or maybe not. I won’t divulge the surprise ending of War Moore’s delightful novel. I’ll j say that it’s a trip.
P.S. Clio is the Greek muse of history. Moore terms her the
Note Ward Moore, Bring the Jubilee was originally published in 195 by Farrar, Straus and Young, New York. A paperback edition was printed in 1997 by Ballanti Publishing Group, New York.
Stephen Davis’ article, “Simply Criminal,” on the battle of Pic Mill, appears in the May 2019 i of America’s Civil War. Civil W News of January 2019 also carri Steve’s article about an incide of that battle—how Union soldie complained that all the bugling from Willich’s brigade alerted Confederates of their march to Pickett’s Mill. He and Bill Hen are working on a book on the Atlanta Daily intelligencer, le
Programs for Civil War Round Tables and Historical Societies
the Spanish, who named it Fort San Felipe? 9. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate forces abandoned this point on the lower Peninsula of Virginia on May 3, 1862. Union officers counted 53 workable guns captured. 8. In arguably the Confederacy’s worst rout of a battlefield army, fifty-four cannon were lost in a Tennessee battle fought in December 1864. Which battle? 7. The fall of this Confederate f on the Cumberland River opened the way to Union forces’ capture of Nashville within a week. It also gave U.S. Grant’s forces sixty-five captured cannon. Which fort? 6. Perhaps the Army of Tennessee’ greatest victory was this battle in
Capital of the Confederacy Civil War Show (original dates
northwest Georgia, September 1863, which led to the Confederates capturing sixty-six Northern artillery pieces. Which battle? 5. When Stonewall Jackson captured a U.S. arsenal just before the battle of Sharpsburg, his troops cap tured seventy-three artillery pieces Which arsenal? 4. This Louisiana fort, across the Mississippi from that referred to in question #10, was also surrendered by Confederates on April 28, 1862. Federals captured seventy-four
cannon. What was its name? 3. The surrender of this Mississip River island on April 8, 1862 netted Federal forces under John Pope 109 cannon. Which island? 2. When Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton surrendered this Mississippi River fortress in July 1863, he turned over 172 cannon. Which garrison? 1. The largest single-event capture of artillery occurred on April 21, 1861, when Virginia state troops seized which U.S. naval base near Norfolk?
Answers found on page 7. Book Review Editor. He can be contacted by email at
2019 Award Winners are (Left to Holzwarth, James Brenner, David
Holzwarth for her display entitled “The Chaplain in WWI.” George Reese put out a great di play called “Ohio Was There.” The Best Photographic award went to Richard Wolfe for his d play “West Virginia Mourns Her Dead.” The 2019 Best of Show Award went to Dave Gotter for his dis play of canister and grape shot entitled “A Withering Hail of Iron.” This display was a hit f artillery collectors and guests were pleased to see such a complete presentation of Civil War anti-personnel artillery weapon
Cathy Spencer, Matt & Viola Switlik, Ken Knoll, Ingrid and Richard Wolfe.
hanks to all the dealers who Take time to step back in time
e generous in displaying their Mark your calendars for May 2 lections, memorabilia, and ed- and 3, 2020. The show will be tional materials. held in the same location, the he Ohio Show is happy to Richland County Fairgrounds, e such a variety of quality located in Mansfield, Ohio. plays for all to enjoy. Visit us on Facebook – Ohio ake the Ohio Civil War Show Civil War Show and find out
A Long and Bloody Task The Atlanta Campaign from Dalton through Kennesaw Mountain to the Chattahoochee River May 5–July 18, 1864
Davis’ narrative history of the Atlanta Campaign is divided into two paperbacks from Savas Beatie’s Emerging Civil War Series. Volume One, A Long and Bloody Task, carries Sherman’s forces from Dalton in northwest Georgia to the Chattahoochee River. There the Confederate government was forced to relieve its army commander, Joseph E. Johnston, and replace him with Gen. John B. Hood. Paperback, 192 pages.
All the Fighting They Want The Atlanta Campaign from Peachtree Creek to the City’s Surrender July 18–September 2, 1864 With the Yankee army five miles outside of Atlanta, Hood promise to give up with city without a f which is all President Jefferson asked. Davis’ companion volume, the Fighting They Want, describe Hood’s efforts to defend Atlanta fall in early September 1864 was mortal blow to Confederate hopes for independence and a big boost
Lincoln’s hopes for presidential election. Paperback, 192 pages.
To order a signed copy from author Stephen Davis
