God Made Man, Man Made the Slave: The Autobiography of George Teamoh (review)

BOOK REVIEWS277 Cumming's account of hospital work after Shiloh will know that war means shattered limbs, gore, filth, delirium, and early death (132-38). Relentlessly, McMillan's documents reveal the terrible difficulties that plagued the Confederates : the political and social antagonism between north and south Alabama ; absence of adequate transportation and manufacturing facUities; poor administrative, financial, and military decisions; and the ideology of states rights' itself, which led to conflicts between Montgomery and Richmond. McMillan does pay homage to Confederate bravery and devotion as well as to the astonishing productivity ofJosiah Gorgas's ordinance works (277-91). Yet long before his discussion of the secret peace societies that flourished in north Alabama and the southeastern "Wiregrass" (392-95), one understands that the Confederacy was collapsing under its own weight. Such, certainly, was the interpretation McMillan intended to convey in his last book, The Disintegration ofa Confederate State: Three Governors and Alabama's Wartime Home Front, 1861-1865 (1986). Though published thirty years ago (at the height of the centennial hoopla), the Reader remains a basic work of Civil War history. For Alabama historians , it is a necessary corrective to Walter L. Fleming's CiViV War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905; reprint, 1978), a Dunning-School classic that is still the only full-scale narrative of the period. Overall, this reprint edition of The Alabama Confederate Reader is a fitting tribute to Malcolm C. McMillan 's long and productive career. Paul M. Pruitt, Jr. University of Alabama GodMade Man, Man Made the Slave: The Autobiography ofGeorge Teamoh. Edited by F. N. Boney, Richard L. Hume, Rafia Zafar. (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1992. Pp. x, 219. $24.95.) God Made Man, Man Made the Slave offers a fascinating look at the life of an exceptional African American. George Teamoh was born a slave in Norfolk , Virginia, in 181 8. After spending his formative and early adult years working in and near the naval yards of the Norfolk-Portsmouth area, Teamoh escaped from bondage in 1853, ultimately settling in Boston two years later. In recounting this portion of his life, Teamoh emphasizes his struggle to attain literacy, the heartrending separation from his wife and children, the drama of his escape, and his attempts to start life anew in New England. It is a well-told and often illuminating story, albeit one that is similar in structure and emphasis to other works in the slave narrative genre. Much more important is the final half of God Made Man, which provides a rare glimpse of Reconstruction politics from the vantage point of a key black participant. After the Civil War, Teamoh returned to his native Virginia , quickly rose to prominence as a leader of Portsmouth's AfricanAmerican community, and became intimately involved in state politics. He 278CIVIL WAR HISTORY was an active participant at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 186768 and served one term as a state senator in 1869-71 . Thus, Teamoh is able to provide a rare insider's view of these events. He looks critically and candidly at a number of important issues, including the role played by AfricanAmerican delegates to the state convention; his efforts as a state senator to promote equitable work policies at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard; and the factionalism within the Republican party that led to his defeat. One wishes only that Teamoh had written more. The entire autobiography runs a mere 101 pages, making it a very brief narrative for a man with such a rich and varied story to tell. Roughly one-third of the discussion focuses on the especially important Reconstruction period. While Teamoh's comments on politics are lengthy and instructive, at times they merely whet the reader's appetite; Teamoh alludes to his involvement with the Union League and the initial stages of the black political community's mobilization, for example , but he never delves fully into the matter. Essays by the editors of the narrative partially offset God Made Man's brevity and deserve a special note ofpraise. F. N. Boney and Richard Hume's introduction paints a clear and finely textured portrait of the world surrounding Teamoh, making the narrative more accessible and more meaningful for scholars and general...