Living Monuments: Confederate Soldiers' Homes in the New South (review)

BOOK REVIEWS267 vetoes of less important measures are left out, their omission does not substantially affect the story. Just as this collection highlights Johnson's estrangement from Congress, it also clarifies his efforts to establish a new party of conservative Republicans and moderate Democrats. The preparations for the Philadelphia National Union Convention and the advice of various well-wishers concerning a reorganization of political factions furnish a clear illustration ofJohnson's vain attempts at a political realignment. Another subject elucidated in this volume is the president's hesitant use of the patronage during the summer of 1866. The difficulty of maintaining some loyalty to the Republican party while making use of supporters who were largely Democrats becomes evident in the perusal of these letters, enough of which have been included to illustrate the point. Although most of the reports from Johnson's emissaries to the South were included in a special volume of the Papers of Andrew Johnson in 1987, that publication did not contain the interesting account of Benjamin C. Truman. Its inclusion in the present collection is to be welcomed. All in all, the completion of Volume 10 of The Papers ofAndrew Johnson gives promise of further excellent material to follow. Although the task will not be made easier by the ever-increasing complications of Johnson's administration and his impeachment, we may be confident that Professor Bergeron will be equal to the task. Hans L. Trefousse Brooklyn College and Graduate Center, CUNY Living Monuments: Confederate Soldiers' Homes in the New South. By R. B. Rosenburg. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. Pp. 240. $3495) Only rarely may a society immortalize its vanquished soldiers. But such was the case with the defeated Confederacy after the Civil War. The ensuing cult of the Lost Cause emerged as a potent force in Southern popular culture, grafting itself to politics and intellectual discourse. Certainly, the Union's lenient treatment of the South's ruling classes allowed this development. In a real sense, only armies had surrendered. R. B. Rosenburg investigates one neglected but fascinating facet of this cult in Living Monuments: Confederate Soldier's Homes in the New South. He adroitly melds an analysis of Lost Cause ideology to state politics of the New South and rapidly developing social welfare policy. The drive to establish homes for the care of impoverished and disabled veterans reflected more than just the survival of Confederate passions. As a Southern reform movement, the cause expressed a middle- and upper-class bias. Johnny Reb, having fallen on hard times, was viewed as an object of "benevolent paternalism requiring comfort and care, as well as moral 268CIVIL WAR HISTORY guidance." The iconography buttressing the movement reflected the spirit of the postwar white South. Organizations such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the United Confederate Veterans advanced Lost Cause symbolism in their campaigns to garner public support for the establishment of soldiers' homes. Indigent and disabled veterans were generally portrayed as heroes, deserving of public support in their time of need. Surprisingly, what might have seemed a relatively noncontroversial movement frequently generated discord. It usually centered on funding. Would it be public or private? If public, what would be adequate support? In many states, particularly in Georgia, where New South spokesman Henry Grady became involved, the financial issue was a continual problem. Few, however, questioned the need for the homes. Despite controversy, institutions were eventually established in all of the former Confederate states as well as in Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and even California. They enjoyed their heyday for some four decades after 1880. In addition to Rosenburg's fine analysis of Lost Cause ideals and the struggles for establishment of the homes, daily life in the institutions is scrutinized . He also focuses on the relationship of each home with its community. His vivid, moving images of tottering, uniformed veterans being mustered out under the oaks to be gawked at by a visiting Sunday school class or to be loaded on wagons for a Jefferson Davis birthday celebration in town, help to make Living Monuments a poignant portrait of Southern life. John E. Simpson Savannah State College Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville...