By Tiffany Edwards, University Relations
In his latest book, “The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War and Reunion,” historian Peter S. Carmichael takes a critical look at the writings of young 19th century Virginians and provides fresh insight into how members of this generation formed their identities as Southerners and defined the roles they played in the Civil War and the Reconstruction.
Typically branded as hot tempered and intellectually disengaged, young men of the time were in truth very interested in and contemplative about the fate of their state and country, Carmichael argues.
“These men certainly engaged in mischief, such as drinking, gambling and hunting, but they also had vibrant intellectual lives,” he said.
The professor examined 75 master’s theses from the 1850s, as well as articles in literary magazines and transcripts from debating societies of the time. The resulting 343–page book was published by the University of North Carolina Press in May as part of the acclaimed Civil War America Series edited by Gary W. Gallagher. Carmichael is an assistant professor of history at UNCG.
“There was more diverse opinion over the question of disunion in the upper South than generally believed,” the professor said. “The youth preceded their elders in calling for secession. The elders saw political action, such as burning the flag in effigy, as ‘childish,’ and as ‘boys being boys.’ This book takes young people seriously, on their own terms.”
Frustrated with the lengthy debates and indecision on the part of Virginia’s elder statesmen, young men believed secession could resolve private issues that related to their professional futures in the South, while at the same time, they argued that disunion protected their region from the supposed abolitionist designs of the North. Moreover, their secessionist pleas revealed a vision of slavery coexisting with a modern economy that included light industry, railroads and urbanization. Carmichael challenges those historians who see Southerners as defenders of an insulated, agrarian way of life.
Yet, the political positions of the Last Generation shifted throughout their lifetimes.
“We can see how people’s loyalties and identities are transformed by war,” Carmichael said.
While young Virginians were supporters of disunion, they were not Southern nationalists in 1861 who called for vengeance against the North. The human and physical destruction of the war turned these men into zealots who refused to even admit the possibility of defeat. Carmichael was surprised to find that many of these young men continued to believe God would bring the Confederacy victory. Appomattox shattered their dreams of a Confederate nation and the survivors had to rebuild their lives without slavery.
Members of the Last Generation made the transition back to the Union with relative ease. Carmichael was struck by how few of these men engaged in the inflammatory rhetoric of the Lost Cause to defend the failed Confederate nation. Rather, they preached reunion and reconciliation.
“At the turn of the century, the mythmaking began,” he said. “They romanticized their experience to make sure certain political voices would be forgotten. The war became a war between brothers, not a war over slavery.”
Carmichael will give talks about his new book across the eastern United States this summer and fall, including stops at the Civil War Institute in Gettysburg in July, in Chapel Hill in September and at Jefferson Davis’ home in October.
In addition to writing “The Last Generation,” he has also edited and contributed to the collection of essays, “Audacity Personified: Essays on the Generalship of Robert E. Lee” (Louisiana State University Press, 2004) and authored “Lee’s Young Artillerist: William R.J. Pegram” (1995). “The Last Generation” is available at www.amazon.com.
