Having spent a little time working on Civil War-era
research in northern Alabama, let me add my thoughts.

The decision for Alabama's secession was made at their
secession convention and was never put to the people
for ratification. Thomas Joyce McClellan of Limestone
County was angry, as were many of the delegates from
northern Alabama, that the people never had a chance
to ratify the decision. McClellan had earlier voted
against secession (and refused to sign the order), and
considered the demonstrations in Montgomery at the
announcement of secession, to be "a soul-sickening
spectacle," The Union flag flew over the Athens,
Alabama courthouse, and "true-blue unionists" dared
anyone to take it down. There was even talk of
seceeding along with several southern Tennessee
counties to form their own state (probably more of a
fantasy than a reality).

All talk of remaining in the Union and criticism of
secession abruptly ended with the firing on Fort
Sumter. The issue changed completely at that point to
defending the "home country" and hearth and home.
Thomas Joyce McClellan would send three sons off to
the war and would serve in the Alabama legislature
during the war.

The issue of southern unionism and loyalty to either
side is very complicated. Individual states and
counties seemed to be very divided in their loyalties,
and also, I think, in the reasons why they fought the
war. I don't think one can make a statement that a
region like northern Alabama, for instance, should be
labled as a pro-Union area. The northern Alabama
counties were a mixture of small farmers and large
planters in a cotton-producing area with ties to the
slave-economy, but also with strong interests in
remaining in the Union. While many opposed immediate
secession, some of those same people quickly jumped on
the secession bandwagon once the firing started.
However, from reading many of their letters before and
during the war, it is clear that they thought the war
was a mistake, and that they also hoped that once
again the southern states might return to the Union.

Northern Alabama was much like Culpeper, Virginia in
that it was occupied off and on by Union troops; it
had some citizens who were northern supporters, and
some who were southern supporters; and it was subject
to raids by both Union and Confederate forces. It was
hard to get a feeling about loyalty towards either
side when  Union troops under Gen. Basil Turchin would
raid Athens on one day, and Nathan Bedford Forrest on
the next. Many people just shut-up, hunkered-down, and
rode it out. Thomas McClellan's son wrote to him from
the front in Virginia, upon hearing of the Union
occupation of northern Alabama, and advised him to act
like "the perfect Yankee" to save his home and family.


I am currently researching the old Whigs (1840-1852)
from northern Alabama and south-central Tennessee to
see if there is a connection between their Whig
backgrounds and their secession politics. Any comments
or suggestions?

John Carter


--- Gregg Kimball <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I would say that the eventual formation of West
> Virginia also constitutes a
> "significant public outcry . . . against secession."
>  I would highly
> recommend Dan Crofts' book "Reluctant Confederates"
> on secession in the
> upper South.  If I remember correctly, the decision
> to secede was never put
> to a popular vote in Virginia.  What was the case in
> the other southern
> states?
>
> Gregg Kimball
>
>
> Gregg D. Kimball
> Director of Publications
>   and Educational Services
> Library of Virginia
> 804/692-3722
> [log in to unmask]
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please
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