The Lost Colony of the Confederacy (review)

92CIVIL WAR HISTORY agerial Revolution" described by Walter Millis in Arms and Men, an old but still provocative work, also falls on both sides of Professor Coffman 's termination date. A second problem stems from Professor Coffman's claim that "the mission of the army as a frontier constabulary" did not end until "the last Indian War campaign in 1890" (p. 403). An alternative interpretation would emphasize the way in which developments taking place in the last quarter of the century, many of them noted by Professor Coffman in chapter five, challenged the frontier constabulary mission well before 1890. The Old Army is better at describing the army's growing professionalism in the late nineteenth century than explaining why the army evolved as it did, and some readers will lack the cynicism required to assume that the primary motive for that professionalism was the desire of officers to create work for themselves. Disagreement with Professor Coffman over interpretation should not detract from the outstanding service he has done for us all. The Old Army is a superb study of the evolution of the American army and the changing life of its members and their dependents. Its rich detail, carefully crafted narrative, and outstanding documentation make it a work of exceptionally high quality that deserves a place on the shelf of any reader interested in the U.S. Army in the period before or after the Civil War. John M. Gates The College of Wooster The Lost Colony of the Confederacy. By Eugene C. Harter. (Jackson: The University of Mississippi Press, 1985. Pp. xiv, 141. $14.95.) This slender volume about post-Civil War Confederate emigration to Brazil will appeal more to general readers than to scholars. Mr. Harter, a former United States diplomat born and raised in the "lost colony" of which he writes, acknowledges a limited purpose. He seeks only to "introduce " readers to his subject, and, if one approaches the book in that spirit, it can be enjoyable. Harter discusses most of the right topics: the emigrants' rationale for deserting Dixie, the attractions of Brazil, the journey to South America, early settlement and adaptation, emigrant contributions to Brazilian culture, and the legacy of expatriation for twentieth-century descendants of "los Confederados." He also comments on a number of less obvious topics, including the important place of American dentists in Brazilian society, citizenship problems faced by colonists and their descendants who returned to the United States, and Henry Ford's unsuccessful attempt to build a "company town" in Brazil. Throughout, Harter infuses his narrative with a unique personal per- BOOK REVIEWS93 spective, a perspective acquired by intimate association with survivors of the emigration and their children (including his own parents). Still, Harter will disappoint readers seeking a synthesis of existing material on Brazilian settlement and its place in the broader context of Confederate exodus. Purists will immediately pounce on Harter for his title. Former Confederates planted several colonies, not one, in Brazil, and these settlements were not so much lost as forgotten. Harter, of course, knows all that, but his limited sources—no manuscripts, and a lack of important secondary literature, including dissertations by Douglas A. Grier and William C. Griggs—will not inspire confidence in readers who have previously delved into the subject. Harter provides only a scant sense of chronology, and he leaves large gaps in his account between the 1860s and 1870s (the period of initial settlement) and the 1930s, when his personal recollections begin. Occasional contradictions appear, as when Harter implies in one spot that intermarriage eased the merging of Southerners into Brazilian life, but then states elsewhere that intermarriage remained taboo until after World War I. Finally, despite the appeal of many personal vignettes, his story is more descriptive than analytical. Much of his material remains undigested; many of his observations seem random and without purpose. An entire chapter of such stories and observations he entitles simply "A Confederado Miscellany." In short, Harter has written an entertaining and frequently informative volume, but it should not be mistaken for a substantive, scholarly work. Daniel E. Sutherland McNeese State University¦j . - ^ J*Qjp: ...