Confederate Visions: Nationalism, Symbolism, and the Imagined South in the Civil War

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments A book is a collective endeavor for which the author takes sole responsibility . Credit goes to the cloud; blame should go to me. This project began, over twenty years ago, as a senior thesis at Lancaster University written under the direction of the late Marcus Merriman. The intellectual genesis of that thesis took place at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the undergraduate classes of Vernon Burton and the late Robert W. Johannsen. What became a dissertation was written, rewritten, and refined under the direction of Vernon Burton, my Ph.D. advisor. Vernon’s kindness to me as a person, a student, and a friend has been constant since the first day we met. His faith in my ability to complete this project has often exceeded my own, and no one (including myself ) has more faith in my virtues as an historian. At the dissertation stage, Keith Hitchins, David Roediger, Max Edelson , Robert Johannsen, and Kevin Doak all gave good counsel. Bruce C. Levine, then at the University of Cincinnati, provided sharp commentary on the very first piece I wrote on the subject of Confederate nationalism as a graduate student, commentary I have never forgotten nor stopped trying to heed. In addition to many of the above, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Jeremy Wells, John Mayfield, Don H. Doyle, and Paula Treckel were instrumental in helping me turn a dissertation into a book. More than perhaps anyone, Aaron Sheehan-Dean has read multiple versions and offered substantial, meaningful, and, above all, helpful critiques. A large portion of any credit due on the completion of this project goes to him. I benefited enormously from the assistance of Linda Jacobson from the Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was she who suggested Heritage Auctions as a source for images and who specifically suggested that I contact Len Glazer. His gen- viii acknowledgments erosity in allowing me to use images from HA.com is greatly appreciated. All images appear courtesy of HA.com. Keeping academics sane is a community endeavor, and I have always benefited from excellent communities. From my time at Illinois, I offer heartfelt thanks to Chad and Tara Beckett, David and Denise Herr, Jon Coit and Sace Elder, John Wedge and Mila Yasko, Jerry and Linda Pelton , Mike Sherfy, Todd and Heidi Larson, and Rob and Amy McLain. At Eastern Illinois University, I was fortunate to make many new friends to add to this circle, not the least of them Michelle LeMaster, Lynnea Magnuson , Michael Shirley, Deb Reid, Anita Shelton, and Martin Hardeman. At Allegheny College, I have too many debts to mention, but foremost among them would be to Paula Treckel, Ron Cole, John E. Guthrie, and Vic Sternby. My parents, Michael and Janice, have endured throughout this entire process, always asking me how my work was going and never judging when it was not. Their strength, both moral and material, made this project possible as much as anything I did. My sister, Lorna, and my late grandmother Betty Smith similarly provided moral support from the other side of the Atlantic. Portions of this work were presented at meetings of the Southern Historical Association, the Historical Society, the Social Science History Association, the Nationalism in the New World: The Americas and the Atlantic World conference at Vanderbilt University, and the Douglas Southall Freeman and Southern Intellectual History Conference at the University of Richmond. I would like to thank all participants in those events for their comments and suggestions. A portion of chapter 4, cowritten with Vernon Burton, appears in Master Narratives: History, Storytelling, and the Postmodern South, edited by Jason Phillips, and a portion of chapter 5 appears in Virginians and the Civil War, edited by Peter Wallenstein and Bertram Wyatt-Brown. I thank them all for their editorial insights and useful commentary. Working with Dick Holway and Aaron Sheehan-Dean at the University of Virginia Press has been a delightful experience. Dick’s patience and support has been most valued over the years, and he has made this project better in so many ways. I thank the staff of the press, especially Raennah Mitchell, for their patience in answering my questions and their good-natured professionalism. The readers for the press gave me ix acknowledgments encouraging and substantive critiques, and I hope that I have been able to satisfy most, if not all, of their suggestions and...