Running head: BOOK REVIEW 1

Book Review

Student’s Name

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BOOK REVIEW 2

Book Review

Question One

What were the relationships between Southerners—both white and black— and Yankee

soldiers during 1865? How did the end of the war affect the relationships between Yankees

and Southerners? Give examples from the four different individuals detailed in the book to

support your answer

In 1865, the Southerners were involved in a fierce war with the Yankees. According to

Ash, the civil war had begun in 1861 between the Union (Yankees) and the Southerners. The

southerners were mostly known for their long-standing support for the enslavement of black

people. The Yankees, on the other hand, were against the practice of enslaving black people. The

civil war, in general, was fought between the southerners and those from the north, the Yankees.

The civil war resulted in a mixed relationship between the Southerners and the Yankees (Ash,

2014).

The nature of the relationship between the Southerners and the Yankees depended on the

race of the Southerners. As the Southerners composed of Whites (slave owners and confederacy

solders) and blacks (slaves), their reactions towards the Yankees invasion were different. As

expected, the whites saw the Yankees as the enemies and tried their best to defeat them during

the war.

Cornelia, a white southerner, saw the Yankees as the enemy. She was a widow of a

former confederate commander who died in battle at the hand of the Yankees. Cornelia’s

perception of the Yankees is well expressed through her reactions. According to Ash (2014), in

1865, Cornelia was distraught at the thought of the South losing the war to the Yankees. She

viewed the Yankees as the enemy that had come to destroy the once beautiful South. Initially,
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Cornelia had opposed the secession efforts that were pushed by the majority of the people in the

South. The devastating effects of the Civil War made her embrace confederacy after the arrival

of the Yankees. Cornelia, according to Ash, referred to invaders as the “dirty Yankees” and even

though they controlled the town she lived in, she refused to take their union oath that was

demanded of every resident (Ash, 2014).

Another kind of relationship between the southerners and the Yankee army is evident

through Louis Hughes, a black slave in the South. After being sold into slavery since he was a

child, Louis was one of the most fortunate slaves as he was given lighter duties by most of her

masters. One of his masters, Jack, was very oppressive and this whetted his desire to become

free. The Yankee army was seen as the savior a good number of the slaves in the south (Ash,

2014). Louis together with his friends confided with the Yankees soldiers to help free their wives

that were still slaves in places like Mississippi. Even though some of their cries for help from the

Yankees were unhelpful, black men like Louis viewed the Yankee soldiers as the lesser of two

evils.

The war, in general, resulted in strained relationships between white southerners and the

Yankees. The whites lost their power to hold slaves as many wee enlightened by the Yankees to

seek freedom. The value of their properties and currency depreciated. Most of the plantations in

the south were unattended and a good number of Southerners were subjected to living in poverty.

The blacks, on the other hand, found new friendships in the Yankees for freeing them from

slavery.

After the Civil War, the relationship between the Southerners and the Yankees had barely

changed. The Whites were, in fact, more enraged by the Yankees after the war. The end of the

war resulted in most of them losing their property, which included slaves. As the confederacy
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had lost the war, it meant that black men who were slaves had left for the north. This left the

work they used to do unattended, plunging their former masters into economic uncertainties.

Coupled with losing their men in the war, the whites could not relate in a positive manner with

the Yankees. Cornelia, for instance, was one of the most affected after the war as she and her

children were starving.

On the other hand, the end of the civil war improved the relationship between the freed

slaves and the Yankees solders. As southerners, the majority of black people had lived most of

their lives in slavery and that only changed during and after the Yankees invasion. Black

southerners had found a safe haven in the Yankees. The majority of the freed slaves started

moving towards the north, where they knew they could reunite with fellow blacks. Louis, for

instance, had been separated from his wife after being traded during the war. The Yankees had

set up centers where the freed slaves could converge before making their journeys to the north.

After the war, Louis was able to reunite with her wife Matilda and son. While in the north, Louis

together with his family enjoyed the freedoms they had not accustomed to while living under

slavery from the confederate south.

Question Two

How did the different backgrounds of John, Cornelia, Lou, and Samuel affect their abilities

to adjust to the end of the war? How did the end of the war affect their daily lives? Explain,

making sure to support your answer with evidence from the text

Lou was a black slave in the south, as a slave, he was accustomed to doing different types

of jobs. The jobs included working on farms during his initial years in slavery. After working in

horrid conditions, he was mostly used by his masters to manage different work activities. While

working for one of his slaves, he was able to learn jobs such as nursing and taking care of the
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injured as he had watched his master do in the past. After the end of the war, Lou was able to get

a job in Ontario and after realizing that it did not pay well, he relocated to Detroit where he

found another job (Ash, 2014). He was most dissatisfied with the jobs he got because they paid

little. The only problem he faced was the low pay but not getting the work. The different jobs he

had done while in slavery seemed to have prepared him adequately to do any job he wanted.

Lou, furthermore, had more freedoms when compared to the time when he was still in

enslavement.

John was a white southerner that was born in a family full of riches. While he was still

young and before the civil war began, his family did not have slaves and only hired a few people

to perform specific tasks. In the process, his family required them to work on the farms. John

was able to develop practical skills that a farmer needed in the south. In 1862, he enlisted in the

confederacy army, vowing to fight alongside the southerners that were against the Yankee

invasion (Ash, 2014). After being captured and imprisoned by the Yankees, he was forced to

declare an oath of allegiance to the union in order to be released. As the war ended in 1865, he

vowed to live spiritually and be morally perfect, ignoring anything to do with the war. After the

war, John was mostly silent on his experiences on both the confederacy an under the Yankee's

imprisonment, focusing only on morals and spirituality together with his work as a teacher.

In terms of Cornelia, she was the wife of a confederacy general and a mother. Before the

war, she was well off and was capable of raising her seven children with ease. The invasion of

the Yankees changed everything and she together with her family had to adapt. The lives they

were used to before the war became history as they became poor. After the war, she was unable

to take care of her children and even sought help to help them from starvation. It is clear that the

war had not prepared Cornelia for this kind of life as she found it difficult to adapt. She lived on
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the support of her friends since 1865 with her worldly possessions only amounting to $150 (Ash,

2014).

After the war, moreover, Cornelia’s daily activities changed. Before the war, she enjoyed

the freedoms that the majority of people in the south had. She was not used to working and

mostly depended on her husband for upkeep. After the war, Cornelia was required to work as she

had plunged into poverty. Working was the only solution to solve the problems her family had

run into after the death of her husband and the loss of her family's belongings (Ash, 2014).

Samuel Agnew was a minister before the war had begun. He purposed to live by what he

believed in and through the teachings of the scriptures he read. While his father owned slaves,

Samuel did not have any manservants for himself (Ash, 2014). Most of his free time was spent

writing about the things he was seeing and hearing while the war was on. After the war, Samuel

continued doing most of his work. He continued being a minister and living spiritually. He

viewed everything in the sense of spirituality and even when it was announced that there were

going to be state elections, he once referenced it by saying, “the candidates are hick around

Ebenezer these days.” This statement demonstrates that he was more focused on people’s

spirituality rather than politics. The war did not seem to affect the daily life of Samuel as he

remained as he had been in the past.

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References

Ash, S. V. (2004). A Year in the South: 1865: The True Story of Four Ordinary People Who

Lived Through the Most Tumultuous Twelve Months in American History. Harper

Collins.