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226 Acknowledgments As I approached the finish line with this book, I looked forward to writing the acknowledgments . It is wonderful to have an opportunity to offer some small measure of gratitude to the many people who helped me get to this point, although it is far less than they deserve. It is also a little nerve-wracking, as I’ve no doubt lost track of some of the people who contributed to a project that began ten years, three homes, and four laptops ago. So, if I left somebody out, I apologize, and please know that you are included in this blanket “thank you.” First, special thanks are due to the brave souls who read complete drafts of my manuscript at various points in time and stages of development. Gary Gallagher, Peter Onuf, Maurie McInnis, and Scot French reviewed the very first full draft, and their comments helped me to refine my arguments and clarify how I wanted to interact with other scholars as I made further revisions. Two anonymous readers for the University of North Carolina Press each read two additional drafts, always providing detailed and constructive feedback for which I am deeply grateful. Ryan Anderson and Rose Stremlau have read bits and pieces of every chapter, often more than once, over the last two years, and it is fair to say that I absolutely could not have completed this book without their help. In addition to being excellent scholars, writers, and readers, they are wonderful friends, and our weekly writing group meetings have provided invaluable moral support for both the writing process and the demands of our day-to-day teaching responsibilities. I am also thankful for the many people who read smaller sections of the manuscript. Ed Ayers, Stephen Ash, Joan Waugh, Andrew Torget, Calvin Schermerhorn, and Aaron Sheehan-Dean made valuable suggestions on proposals and early conference papers. George Rable, Paul Escott, and William Barney read more recent conference papers, and their support for the project was especially encouraging. Charles Beem, Tamika Carey, Jan Davidson, Anita Guynn, Fran Fuller, and José Rivera all helped me refine individual chapters and sections. Many other people provided crucial support along the way. The numerous scholars who sent me research suggestions over the years demonstrate just how supportive the community of historians can be. Of these, Cynthia Nicoletti and Susanna Michelle Lee deserve special recognition. Cynthia alerted me to the presence of the Board of Slave Claims record book at the Augusta State Library at a time when I had just realized the board even existed. While I’m sure I would have eventually found these records (which are a crucial part of chapter 2) on my own, her tip saved me a great deal of time. Susanna sent me notes on Southern Claims Commission cases whenever she encountered something I could use, greatly streamlining my work with those documents. Their help allowed me to make more effective use of my time in libraries and archives, as did the work of Interlibrary Loan staff at the University of Virginia’s Alderman Library and Acknowledgments / 227 UNC Pembroke’s Mary Livermore Library. I am also grateful to collections specialists at UVA’s Small Special Collections Library, the Library of Virginia, and the North Carolina State Archives. I was fortunate that many of the resources I needed for this project were within easy reach, and so very few of my research trips involved overnight stays. I do have two excellent hosts to thank, however: Norma Reyes let me use her guest room (and cooked me tostones!) during a week-long sojourn in the Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill area in 2006, while my sister Leigh repeatedly let me sleep on her couch or air mattress when I visited the National Archives in Washington, D.C., or College Park (payback, perhaps, for her childhood tendency to invade my bedroom). Kristen Anderson converted maps and images into publication-ready formats, patiently enduring my numerous emails and last-minute changes. I would also like to thank the many people who attempted to keep me sane while I finished writing and revising this book. Caitlin Bell-Butterfield and Paul Betz at UNC Press reduced my anxiety by answering my questions quickly and thoroughly. David Perry and all four Civil War America series editors gave me frequent encouragement. Julie Bush and Jessica Ryan did excellent work copyediting and proofreading, respectively. My colleagues at UNC Pembroke, especially Janet Gentes, Rose Stremlau, Ryan Anderson, and Jeff Frederick, provided both...

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