Yankee Town, Southern City
Race and Class Relations in Civil War Lynchburg
Publication Year: 1997
One of the most hotly debated issues in the historical study of race relations is the question of how the Civil War and Reconstruction affected social relations in the South. Did the War leave class and race hierarchies intact? Or did it mark the profound disruption of a long-standing social order?
Yankee Town, Southern City examines how the members of the southern community of Lynchburg, Virginia experienced four distinct but overlapping events--Secession, Civil War, Black Emancipation, and Reconstruction. By looking at life in the grog shop, at the military encampment, on the street corner, and on the shop floor, Steven Elliott Tripp illustrates the way in which ordinary people influenced the contours of race and class relations in their town.
Published by: NYU Press
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
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pp. xiii-
Illustrations
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pp. xv-
Acknowledgments
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pp. xvii-xviii
It is with a mix of relief and pleasure that I finally have an opportunity to thank those who have helped me see this project through to its completion. I am grateful to the staffs at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia, the Perkins Library at Duke University, the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, and the Virginia State Archives in...
Introduction
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pp. 1-5
This is a study of how the people of one Southern community— Lynchburg, Virginia—experienced four distinct but overlapping events: Secession, Civil War, black emancipation, and Reconstruction. It was a volatile period in the town's history. The combined effects of these events influenced all areas of life, none more so than race and class relations. Although relations between black and white, rich and poor, had...
CHAPTER ONE: Yankee Town, Southern City
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pp. 6-47
On the eve of the Civil War, Lynchburg, Virginia, enjoyed a national reputation as a progressive, enterprising city. Founded in the mid-eighteenth century by Charles Lynch as a trading depot on the southern bank of the James River, the town quickly gained prominence as a regional tobacco market. One hundred miles upstream from Richmond, local tobacco farmers found Lynchburg a convenient place to ship their tobacco, store it, and have it inspected by state agents...
CHAPTER TWO: Religion, Rum, and Race: Lower-Class Life in Antebellum Lynchburg
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pp. 48-84
On Sunday, January 6, 1861, sixteen-year-old Jannett Cleland, the only daughter of the town's gas fitter, presented herself for membership at Lynchburg's First Presbyterian Church. Although Cleland had grown up in the church, she confided in her diary that the day had been "the most important ... of my life." To Jannett, the ceremony had been a dramatic event. Along with several other probationers, she was asked to make a public confession of her faith to demonstrate...
CHAPTER THREE: The Many Battles of Lynchburg
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pp. 85-162
The events of the Secession winter of 1860-1861 convinced Lynchburg's men of property and standing that they ruled a society united by bonds of deference, paternalism, white superiority, and economic ascendancy. Five years later, they would not be so confident. Military mobilization, poverty, and death created animosities that elites were unable to control, much...
CHAPTER FOUR: "These Troublesome Times": Rebuilding Lynchburg after the War
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pp. 163-204
In late March 1865, Charles Blackford, then stationed at Richmond, asked for and received a thirty-day pass to visit his wife and children, now living in Charlottesville with family. Before Charles could reach them, however, Lee surrendered. Unsure of the Confederacy's future, Charles determined to stay in Charlottesville with his wife. They rented a one-room apartment at the University of Virginia and waited for the chaos in the countryside to subside, so that they could return to their...
CHAPTER FIVE: "To Crown Our Hearty Endeavors": Religion, Race, and Class, 1865-1872
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pp. 205-223
Before and during the war, devout Lynchburg residents had looked to evangelical Christianity as a source of stability, security, and reassurance. Now, in the aftermath of war and facing the uncertainties of black emancipation and Yankee rule, it was only natural that many Lynchburg residents continued to look to their religious leaders for spiritual and emotional support. Just a few weeks after Lee's surrender, Jannett Cleland listened intently to a sermon by her minister, James...
CHAPTER SIX: "The Mauling Science": Black and White Violence and Vigilance, 1865-1872
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pp. 224-249
On Tuesday, August 7, 1866, J. G. Perry, local editor for the Lynchburg News, reported two weekend incidents of interracial violence, the likes of which were virtually unknown before black emancipation. The first had occurred the previous Saturday evening. On that night, a black gang accosted a white man, whom Perry identified only as an ex-Confederate soldier, as he walked along Twelfth Street on his way home. According to Perry, the incident began when one of the...
EPILOGUE: Lynchburg's Centennial and Beyond
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pp. 250-255
From October 12 through October 15, 1886, present and former Lynchburg residents gathered at the Fair Grounds to celebrate the town's Centennial. According to one chronicler of the event, the occasion "proved a grand success." From fifty thousand to seventy-five thousand people gathered to hear speeches, observe dramatic presentations and tableaux, and visit the many exhibits that showed off the talents of Lynchburg housewives, artisans, entrepreneurs...
Appendixes
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pp. 257-273
Notes
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pp. 275-318
Selected Bibliography
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pp. 319-336
Index
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pp. 337-344
E-ISBN-13: 9780814784280
E-ISBN-10: 0814784283
Print-ISBN-13: 9780814782057
Print-ISBN-10: 0814782051
Page Count: 384
Publication Year: 1997
