Shifting Loyalties: The Union Occupation of Eastern North Carolina - Softcover

Browning, Judkin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1469613700 ISBN 13: 9781469613703

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014

Synopsis

In the spring of 1862, Union forces marched into neighboring Carteret and Craven Counties in southeastern North Carolina, marking the beginning of an occupation that would continue for the rest of the war. Focusing on a wartime community with divided allegiances, Judkin Browning offers new insights into the effects of war on southerners and the nature of civil-military relations under long-term occupation, especially coastal residents' negotiations with their occupiers and each other as they forged new social, cultural, and political identities.

Unlike citizens in the core areas of the Confederacy, many white residents in eastern North Carolina had a strong streak of prewar Unionism and appeared to welcome the Union soldiers when they first arrived. By 1865, however, many of these residents would alter their allegiance, developing a strong sense of southern nationalism. African Americans in the region, on the other hand, utilized the presence of Union soldiers to empower themselves, as they gained their freedom in the face of white hostility. Browning's study ultimately tells the story of Americans trying to define their roles, with varying degrees of success and failure, in a reconfigured country.

About this title

Book Description

"Reflecting very wide and deep reading and research across multiple disciplines, Shifting Loyalties provides a comprehensive and compelling look at how North Carolinians responded to federal military occupation during the Civil War, as well as fresh insight into the dynamics of occupation in general."--John David Smith, co-editor of Undaunted Radical: The Selected Writings and Speeches of Albion W. Tourgee

From the Inside Flap

Focusing on the Union occupation of Carteret and Craven Counties in southeastern North Carolina, Browning offers new insights into the effects of war on southerners and the nature of civil-military relations under long-term occupation, especially coastal residents' negotiations with their occupiers and each other as they forged new social, cultural, and political identities.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1469613700
• ISBN 13: 9781469613703
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 264