If I may tag on here, white southern military support for the Union appears
to have been multiple times as strong as white northern military support for
the Confederacy.  Some have argued that 200,000 white southerners served in
the Union Army.  This was, after all, a war.  Military participation would I imagine be
a strong if not the strongest measure of political adherence.
  What do you think?

Harold S. Forsythe

Date sent:              Thu, 20 Feb 2003 07:56:08 -0600
From:                   Richard Lowe <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                Re: Southern loyalism?
To:                     [log in to unmask]
Send reply to:          Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
        <[log in to unmask]>

> > the apparent absence of significant grass-roots resistance
> > among white southerners to secession.
> >  I am wondering if there was any significant public outcry across the
>
> > South against secession.
>
>    Well, there WAS the case of western Virginia (aka West Virginia).
> :-)
>
>    In Texas there were enough Unionists in the north-central part of
> the state to lead to the largest "lynching" in U.S. history, the "Great
> Hanging" at Gainesville. (See Richard McCaslin's TAINTED BREEZE for the
> full story.)
>
>    In every southern state there were pockets of Unionism. Northern
> Alabama is a good example.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Richard Lowe
> [log in to unmask]
> Univ. of North Texas
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
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Harold S. Forsythe
Assistant Professor History
Director:  Black Studies
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT 06430-5195
(203) 254-4000  x2379

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