Henry Wiencek asks an interesting question, the nub of which is, "During the Revolution loyalist Americans took up arms and joined the forces of the Crown in significant numbers. During the Civil War only a few distinct sections of the South, notably north Alabama and East Tennessee, remained loyal in spirit and deed to the United States. I am wondering if there was any significant public outcry across the South against secession." It seems to me that this question is flawed in its conception. The only way that one can say that there wasn't "any significant public outcry ... against," or significant armed opposition to, secession is by defining "the South" in a _post hoc_ way. Before the 1860-61 secession crisis, "the South" would have included Kentucky, Missouri, a large portion of Maryland, and the District of Columbia. These states/this district, which ultimately remained in the Union even after Lincoln's inauguration, formed a far larger proportion of the South than the portions of the United States dominated by Loyalists formed of the entire area of the United States during the Revolution. Although it is written for a lay audience, William W. Freehling's _The South vs. The South_ develops this point in some detail. His earlier volume, _The Road to Disunion_, volume 1, deals extensively with sectionalists' and secessionists' fear that if push came to shove, the upper South (MO, MD, DE, and KY) would prove disloyal to the South. If that happened, former secretaries of war Calhoun and Davis believed, the South would have no chance in an armed conflict. (Of course, they had not read Gallagher's _The Confederate War_, the central argument of which is that despite disadvantages of every kind, the South very nearly won the war. I don't take a side in this debate.) George Rable's _The Confederate Republic_ explores political opposition to the Davis Administration, and to the war effort, particularly in NC and GA, but also in the context of the famous Richmond bread riot. Prof. K.R. Constantine Gutzman Department of History Western Connecticut State University To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html