The West and Reconstruction (review)

82CIVIL WAR HISTORY made up, he wrote, "of farmers who like ourselves, only want to defend the coast of Texas" (p. 48). Rudolf makes it clear throughout that he (like so many Germans in Texas) is neither Unionist nor Secessionist. The correspondence contains gems of insight and commentary on the war, military service, and life in general. The father writes to Rudolf: "It pleased us to hear that you have good provisions . . . and are in good spirits. On the other hand, shadows pass over the picture of your existence as you sketch it for us. The undemocratic manner of a soldier's life, the meanness. Dear Rudolf, life strips away one bit of faith in incarnate beauty after another" (p. 86). Agnes, the mother and apparent linch-pin for this close-knit family, wrote almost nothing, but appears in these letters to be a strong character and indefatigable nurturer. "The old dear," wrote Ernst, "works from early until night with insatiable endurance." She shopped, baked, worked in rye and peas, built a shed, supervised the general sowing, was incessently solicitous, and never failed to send food and clothing to her soldier sons. These sons reveal in their letters, like so many other Civil War soldiers on both sides, that daily concerns revolved more around illness, food, clothing, and general living conditions than around battle. Rudolf, after all, was nine months in service before he encountered the Yankees. The encounter with lice, on the other hand, was immediate and daily. All told, this collection is a mine of social and cultural history. Students of the Middle Period will read it with pleasure as well as profit. Gerald Sorin State University of New York New Paltz The West and Reconstruction. By Eugene H. Berwanger. (Urbana, Chicago , London: University of Illinois Press, 1981. Pp. ix, 294. $18.95.) Eugene Berwanger has written an excellent and much-needed book. He demonstrates persuasively that Western politicians, editors, and voters cared about and reacted strongly to national Reconstruction issues during the Johnson presidency. In fact, during the first few years of Reconstruction , national political issues often took precedence over uniquely local concerns in the West. Although attitudes on Reconstruction varied from one part of the West to another, many of them were similar to those held by Northeasterners , because so many westerners had migrated from that section. The author asserts that the effects of Reconstruction reforms and the Republican conception of federal-state relations permeated the entire nation and were profound. In the West, for example, Berwanger suggests that, because of the post-war spread of nationalism, and because of their familiarity with national power while they were territories, most westerners accepted the Republican desire to strengthen the federal gov- BOOK REVIEWS83 ernment. The crucial Reconstruction issues in the West were never economic, but were rather the return of Confederate states to the Union and black rights. Western prejudice against blacks was diminishing, but was still fashionable, especially among Democrats. As in the East, most westerners eventually became disgusted with Johnson's inflexibility and blundering actions toward southern blacks and whites. Western Republicans rejected him relatively early, and by the fall, 1866 elections even most Democrats viewed him as a political liability. Democrats were especially upset because Johnson promised them more jobs than he was willing or able to deliver. On the controversial issues of Johnson's impeachment and trial, Berwanger focuses his attention on the complex motives of Senator Edmund Ross of Kansas in voting to acquit the president. He provides a sophisticated and convincing interpretation that places Ross's image somewhere between a greedy politico and a courageous patriot. With respect to congressional Reconstruction, there were significant divisions among western politicians, but they were not so severe as those in the East. Once congressional Reconstruction became law, almost all the dissenters in the West acquiesced. As a group, Western Republicans called themselves Radicals, but their attitude and behavior were moderate . Unlike many of their eastern counterparts, they regarded the South's restoration to the Union as Reconstruction's primary purpose and actually rejected broader reforms. Until the 15th Amendment passed in 1870, black suffrage was thehottest Reconstruction issue in the West. It not only...