The Image of Lincoln in the South (review)

BOOK REVIEWS75 the capital and the accomplishments of Frank Stringfellow, Stuart's extraordinarily competent "scout," were far more valuable to the rebels. On the other hand, the author assumes, in passing, that the Knights of the Golden Circle effectively assisted Confederate agents, a dubious assumption considering what is presently known about that over-blown secret society. Notes are at the end of the book. They refer only to page and paragraph in the text (which contains no footnote numbers). Occasionally the portion of the text paragraph which is documented is not the portion one wishes to check, an annoyance in an otherwise commendable work. H. H. Wubben Oregon State University The Image of Lincoln in the South. By Michael Davis. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1971. Pp. x, 205. $7.95.) This study partially answers a need that has been keenly felt by all those interested in the elusive impact of Abraham Lincoln on the South. Arguing now and then perhaps too much for his hero's benefit (because after all there has never been anything close to unanimity in the South over Lincoln's image), Mr. Davis first outlines what he considers the fundamental doctrines and peculiar outlook regarding Lincoln that was generated by the secession crisis. The remainder of his space is devoted to the way in which the President influenced the climate of southern opinion on the eve of the war and his reputation in the South during and after the rebellion. Davis' main thesis is that during the period 18651909 the South moved to embrace Lincoln as an authentic American, even uniquely southern, hero whose image was a powerful force for reunion and fraternity. Impregnated so freely with the doctrine that Lincoln, in fostering war over the Union, fathered a never-ending hatred of himself by southerners , historians have often neglected the most patent evidence concerning the ever vacillating multiple reputation of the man. Certainly the leading secessionists themselves were not unmindful of the Republican party objective of the ultimate extinction of slavery for which Lincoln so earnestly and effectively worked. It is therefore novel to read that in the years following his assassination, "most Southerners came to believe that Lincoln's untimely death was a disaster to the South" (p. 136) simply because they were confident that the President never would have allowed the Radicals to impose military-carpetbag rule. Were these same fire-eaters of old neglecting to remember what the outcome might have been had Lincoln never been elected in 1860 nor subsequently exercised his war powers upon the seceding states? The author implicitly suggests that the fever of angry southern emotionalism regarding Lincoln was transformed into an aura of martyrdom for a belatedly recognized charismatic savior. In quoting from Jefferson Davis' Rise 76CIVIL WAR HISTORY and Fall of the Confederate Government, the author fails to emphasize that the Mississipian wrote of Lincoln: "He had power over the Northern people, and was without personal malignity toward the people of the South; his successor was without power in the North." (Davis, Rise and Fall, II, 683-684.) In several instances, more background is desirable. Why, for instance, did Alexander H. Stephens write and why did he enunciate his particular pro-Lincoln sentiments? Better definition and integration of materials could have been achieved in places where the style shows too close proximity to the notes. A word of praise is offered for the thirtypage bibliography, which shows an impressive acquaintance with the enormous literature which surrounds Lincoln. Finally, there is no need to claim too much for one's subject. The author is perhaps too prone to see a public or private statement about Lincoln as the product of a single motive and to minimize or ignore the importance of those motives for acclaiming Lincoln that were not genuine, but rather the product of a need to provide mere "window dressing." Nevertheless, whether or not we accept all of Mr. Davis' contentions, he has written an extremely thought-provoking book and one which every Civil War historian will want to examine. Philip A. Kaliscii University of Southern Mississippi A Confederate in the Colorado Gold Fields. By Daniel Ellis Conner. Edited by Donald J. Berthrong and...