Michigan's War

John W. Quist is a professor of history at Shippensburg University. He is the author of Restless Visionaries: The Social Roots of Antebellum Reform in Alabama and Michigan and coeditor of James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War.

"(M)ore than soldiers' stories and the usual 'greatest hits' of Michigan in the war…. (Michigan's War is) an excellent collection of real, mainly contemporaneous documents…. (T)here are also heart-breaking and troubling views here that reflect Michigandlers' ambivalence over the war and abolition, and out-and-out racism….Any serious reader of the state's history in the Civil War will not want to leave this book to college students."(Civil War Book Review)

• ContentsList of IllustrationsSeries Editors’ PrefacePrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionOne - Michigan, Slavery, and the Coming of the Civil WarHenry Bibb Writes from Detroit to His Former Owner in KentuckyNortherners Are Slaves to the SlaveholdersLewis Cass Favors Nonintervention in the TerritoriesA Democrat Opposes Lewis Cass on SlaveryMichigan Republican Platform, 1854Michigan’s Personal Liberty LawsAbraham Lincoln Campaigns in KalamazooJohn Brown and Frederick Douglass Debate Slave Insurrection in DetroitA Nonpartisan Newspaper Bolts for the RepublicansStephen A. Douglas, “The Conflict and the Cause”Stephen A. Douglas Responds to Hecklers in DowagiacTwo - The Secession CrisisGovernor Austin Blair Declares “Secession Is Revolution”Secession Resulted from Republicans’ Agitation on Slavery“The Blood of Southern Men Enriched the Soil of Michigan”An Anti-abolition Riot during the Secession CrisisThe Michigan Legislature Opposes Compromise with SecessionistsZachariah Chandler’s “Blood-Letting” LetterA Democrat’s Pessimistic Response to Lincoln’s Inaugural: “We Shall Have War”Northern Michigan Learns of the WarThree - Shifting Michigan to a War FootingMichigan’s Deceptive Silence While War Fever EscalatesA Mother Tries to Curb Her Son’s Desire to EnlistThe South May Be Crimsoned with Traitors’ Blood, but Freedom Shall Be MaintainedA Volunteer MeetingRecruiting a Cavalry TroopLeaving Michigan for the FrontOrlando Bolivar Willcox Speaks in Detroit after His Release as a Prisoner of WarOne Year: Reflections on the War in December 1861Four - The Soldier’s LifeThe Routine of Camp LifeSoldiers’ Deteriorating MoralsParoling Prisoners of WarNotifying a Soldier’s Family Regarding DeathA Self-Inflicted Wound?Execution of a DeserterA Soldier’s Thoughts Regarding ReenlistmentA Soldier Discourages His Brother from EnlistingTwo Michigan Soldiers on Opposing Sides of the BattlefieldA Hospital Steward Describes the Battle of ShilohA Soldier’s Reflections on Combat and Military LifeThe 24th Michigan Infantry at GettysburgUnder Confederate and Union FireCuster and the Michigan Cavalry Brigade at Yellow TavernEnvironmental Devastation on the Virginia FrontThe 2nd Infantry’s Address to the People of MichiganHow the Soldiers Feel about the WarTensions in the RanksA Woman and a SoldierMichigan Annie: A Regimental DaughterThe Michigan Colored RegimentIndigenous People from Northern Michigan Form a Company of SharpshootersFive - Conscription, Commutation, and DissentHoping to Escape the DraftDetroit’s Antiblack Riot, 1863Prevent Conscription by Increasing BountiesA Soldier’s Reaction to Commutation FeesAvoiding the Draft by Pooling ResourcesThe Challenges of Hiring SubstitutesDraft Resistance in Huron CountyA Political Prank Succeeds beyond Its Creators’ Wildest DreamsA Political Prisoner Writes to Abraham LincolnSix - Civilians Confront the WarReflections on Defeat following the First Battle of Bull RunA Mining Engineer Responds to the Federal Defeat at Bull RunThe Civil War Comes to Copper Country“Let us have no more Robbery at the Expense of our Volunteers and Taxpayers”A Democrat Questions War ContractsAn African American Gives Up on the United StatesBlack Detroiters Denounce White RacismA Woman’s Anxiety and LonelinessThe Michigan Soldiers’ Aid Society Issues an AppealA Michigan Journalist Describes a Civil War HospitalA Nurse’s Work at a Convalescent HospitalA Civil War Nurse Writes to Her Husband in MichiganA Prospective Army Nurse Inquires about ServingWar Accelerates the Push toward Labor-Saving MachineryA Soldier Complains about Inadequate Support for Military FamiliesLabor Disputes in the Upper Peninsula’s Iron MinesThe Failed Attempt to Rescue Confederate PrisonersDetroit Responds to Another Attack from CanadaSeven - Michigan’s Wartime PoliticsA Democrat’s Growing Fears Regarding AbolitionistsDemocrats as Unwitting TraitorsA Soldier Complains of Abolitionists’ Failure to Support McClellan and the Troops“This War Should Never End Until the Rebellion is Completely Crushed”A Democrat Questions EmancipationA Republican Responds to Democrats’ Opposition to the Emancipation ProclamationA Democrat Embraces EmancipationA Republican Editor Assesses Lincoln in 1863Michigan’s Lone Democratic Representative Addresses the US CongressA Good Cause Ruined by Bad ManagementDemocrats Have Been Supportive of the WarA One-Time Supporter of Lincoln Renounces the PresidentA Democratic Appeal for the Soldier VoteKalamazoo Republicans’ Appeal on the Eve of the 1864 ElectionDetroit Blacks Appeal to Michigan Legislature for Full CitizenshipEight - The Civil War Changes Michiganians’ Relationship to SlaveryIncreased Hostility to Slavery Yet Questioning EmancipationDemocratic Reaction to “Abolition Fanaticism”A Michigan Soldier Opposes Prospective EmancipationHeralding Lincoln’s Signing of the Emancipation ProclamationDemocratic Objections to the Emancipation ProclamationA Michigan Soldier Opposes the Enlistment of African AmericansMichigan Whites Respond to African American SoldiersWar Will Continue So Long as Slavery ExistsThe South Understood through the Lens of SlaveryFreedom’s Underside: A Civil War Refugee CampWe Are No Admirer of SlaveryMichigan Ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment Ending SlaveryNine - The Civil War’s End and ReconstructionThe Feeling in the Army: Soldiers’ Reactions to Lincoln’s AssassinationJefferson Davis’s CaptureThe War Is Over and Soldiers Want to Go HomeJacob Howard on ReconstructionMichigan Democrats Embrace Andrew Johnson“Is the Union Restored?”A Lynching in Mason, 1866William L. Stoughton Denounces the Ku Klux KlanZachariah Chandler’s Last SpeechThe Michigan Civil Rights Act of 1885War Looks Much Different in RetrospectThe Painful Lives of Disabled VeteransJane Hinsdale’s Successful Application for a Civil War PensionA Veteran Reflects on the Civil War in 1917TimelineDiscussion QuestionsNotesSelected BibliographyIndex