Dr. Mark Grimsley
Autumn Quarter 1993
Overview
This course has two main objectives. First, it seeks to acquaint students with some of the most significant recent work on the Civil War, with emphasis on works that integrate the military aspect with the political, social, and cultural dimensions. Second, it encourages students to think about certain larger issues in the study of military history, among them the causes of war, the effect of war on society (and the effect of society on the conduct of war), the problems of writing operational or "battle" history, and the ways in which myth-making about specific wars--or warfare in general--can impede accurate understanding.
All students are required to read James M. McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, and, in addition, the common readings assigned each week.
The common readings and books under discussion are on closed reserve in the Main Library. (The supplemental works, however, are not.) A number of the better and more reasonably priced books are available at the OSU Bookstore and elsewhere--SBX, Border's, etc.. I strongly recommend that you purchase some or all of them; they are worthwhile additions to your personal library.
Enrollment
All students must be officially enrolled in the course by the end of the second full week of the quarter. No requests to add the course will be approved by the department chair after that time. Enrolling officially and on time is solely the responsibility of each student.
Written Requirements
Students will be required to write one 6-page book review and two short (8-10-page) essays. The review should be similar in quality and approach to those published in scholarly journals. The two short essays will respond to questions of the sort asked in Ph.D general examinations; they should draw upon the supplemental as well as the required literature. Although I do not expect this to be necessary, I reserve the right to expand the written requirements if it appears the required readings are not being thoroughly studied and understood.
Format
On any given week, one third of the class will read one of the assigned books, one third will read the other. In addition, all students are responsible for the common readings. Each week four students will organize and lead the discussion within a general framework given them by me. To do this they should meet for about an hour a day or two prior to class. During the course of the quarter each student will read the equivalent of about twelve books.
Grade Scale
Book review: 20%
Essay 1: 35%
Essay 2: 35%
Discussion: 10%
Readings
Week 1. Organizational.
Week 2. The Coming of the Civil War.
Common Reading: James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, prologue, chs. 1-7.
David M. Potter, The Impending Crisis.
Michael F. Holt, The Political Crisis of the 1850s.
Supplemental:
Geoffrey Blainey, The Causes of War.
Steven A. Channing, Crisis of Fear.
Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men.
Eugene D. Genovese, The Political Economy of Slavery.
Michael P. Johnson, Toward a Patriarchal Republic.
John McCardell, The Idea of a Southern Nation.
David M. Potter, Lincoln and His Party in the Secession Crisis.
Kenneth M. Stampp, And the War Came.
J. Mills Thornton, Politics and Power in a Slave Society.
Week 3. The Military Experience.
Common Reading: Linderman, "The Burden of Civil War Combat."
Gerald F. Linderman, Embattled Courage.
Reid Mitchell, Civil War Soldiers.
Supplemental:
Michael Barton, Goodmen: The Character of Civil War Soldiers.
Richard N. Current, Lincoln's Loyalists.
Larry J. Daniel, Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee.
Joseph T. Glatthaar, The March to the Sea and Beyond.
Reid Mitchell, The Vacant Chair.
James I. Robertson, Soldiers Blue and Gray.
Bell I. Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank.
Bell I. Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb.
Week 4. The Impact of Emancipation.
Common Reading: LaWanda Cox, "Can We All Do Better?"
Joseph T. Glatthaar, Forged in Battle.
Clarence C. Mohr, On the Threshold of Freedom.
Supplemental:
Dudley Cornish, The Sable Arm.
LaWanda Cox, Lincoln and Black Freedom.
Robert Durden, comp., The Gray and the Black.
John H. Franklin, The Emancipation Proclamation.
Louis S. Gerteis, From Contraband to Freedman.
Leon Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long.
Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the Civil War.
Week 5. Two Societies at War.
Common Reading: Daniel E. Sutherland, "Getting the `Real War' Into the Books."
Paul D. Escott, After Secession.
Philip S. Paludan, A People's Contest.
Supplemental:
Steven V. Ash, Middle Tennessee Society Transformed.
Iver Bernstein, The New York City Draft Riots.
Catherine Clinton and Nancy Silber, eds., Divided Houses.
Wayne K. Durrill, Another Kind of War.
Frank Klement, The Limits of Dissent.
Mark E. Neely, The Fate of Liberty.
George Rable, Civil Wars.
Joel H. Silbey, A Respectable Minority.
Emory M. Thomas, The Confederate Nation.
Emory M. Thomas, The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience.
Maris A. Vinovskis, ed., Toward A Social History of the Civil War.
Week 6. Civil War Strategy and Tactics.
Common Reading: McPherson, "Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender."
Paddy Griffith, Rally Once Again.
Grady McWhiney and Perry D. Jamieson, Attack and Die.
Supplemental:
Thomas L. Connelly and Archer Jones, The Politics of Command.
Douglas S. Freeman, Lee's Lieutenants.
Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones, How the North Won.
Steven E. Woodworth, Jefferson Davis and His Generals.
Week 7. "The First Modern War."
Common Reading: Mark E. Neely, "Was the Civil War a Total War?"
Edward Hagerman, The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare.
Charles Royster, The Destructive War.
Supplemental:
John G. Barrett, Sherman's March Through the Carolinas.
Geoffrey Best, Humanity in Warfare.
Bruce Catton, Grant Moves South.
Bruce Catton, Grant Takes Command.
Michael Fellman, Inside War.
Richard S. Hartigan, Lieber's Code and the Law of War.
John F. Marszalek, Sherman.
Week 8. The "Battle Book."
NOTE: Because of the observance of VETERANS DAY, for Week 8 we will have to meet on a different day.
Common Reading: John Keegan, "Old, Unhappy, Far-off Things."
Albert Castel, Decision in the West.
Bruce Catton, A Stillness at Appomattox.
Supplemental:
Edwin D. Coddington, The Gettysburg Campaign.
William D. Matter, If It Takes All Summer.
Stephen W. Sears, To the Gates of Richmond.
Richard D. Sommers, Richmond Redeemed.
William Shea and Earl J. Hess, Pea Ridge.
Week 9. Thanksgiving--NO CLASS.
Week 10. Explaining Victory and Defeat.
Common Reading: James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, epilog.
David H. Donald, ed., Why the North Won the Civil War.
Richard E. Beringer et al., Why the South Lost the Civil War.
Supplemental:
Michael C. C. Adams, Our Masters the Rebels.
Douglas F. Ball, Financial Failure and Confederate Defeat.
Michael Ballard, A Long Shadow.
Gabor S. Boritt, ed., Why the Confederacy Lost.
Drew Gilpin Faust, "Altars of Sacrifice," in Catherine Clinton and Nina Silber, eds., Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War.
Week 11. Remembrance.
Common Reading: Thomas L. Connelly, "The Enduring Memory."
Thomas L. Connelly, The Marble Man.
Stuart McConnell, Glorious Contentment.
Supplemental:
Daniel Aaron, The Unwritten War.
Thomas L. Connelly, God and General Longstreet.
Gaines M. Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy.
Thomas Leonard, Above the Battle.
Jay Luvaas, The Military Legacy of the Civil War.
Allan T. Nolan, Lee Considered.
William Piston, Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant.
Edmund Wilson, Patriotic Gore.