War upon Our Border: Two Ohio Valley Communities Navigate the Civil War by Stephen I. Rockenbach (review)

What a difference a river makes. Stephen I. Rockenbach's book studies the Civil War experiences of two similar Ohio Valley communities, Frankfort, Kentucky, and Corydon, Indiana, tied together before the rebellion by shared regional identity based on common experiences of race, culture, economics, and politics. Adhering to a pre-war ideology of white supremacy and comfort with slavery, the two towns prospered in a milieu that bridged the political divisions caused by southern slavery. War, however, tested cross-river cohesion and finally broke the ties that bound. The book compares the wartime experiences of the people of the two communities, both white and African American, highlighting the growing fissures that emerged to destroy their common "western" identity. Whereas, before the war, the Ohio River helped bring (white) people together, it later formed a boundary that separated them.

Rockenbach convincingly demonstrates the common identity found in the antebellum Ohio River borderland, following the theme developed recently by Christopher Phillips (not coincidentally Rockenbach's dissertation adviser) in his The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border. Early-nineteenth-century white settlers of both communities shared memories of conquering the Native inhabitants and seizing the land. Those south of the river introduced slavery, while those to the north of the river—many of whom were migrants from slave states—opted to work the land without slaves. These free-state settlers and their offspring were typically "disinterested in the institution of slavery," not so opposed to it that they would reject profiting from it, but not fond of it either (p. 30). During the tumultuous 1860 presidential contest, voters in both communities backed candidate John Bell, who promised compromise on the slavery issue. Amid the secession crisis and the onset of war, political leaders in both communities urged reconciliation. White Frankforters hoped that Kentucky's "neutrality" between the warring sections would preserve slavery and stave off hardships. Though united in the desire to prop up slavery, divisions emerged in Frankfort between Unionists and those who wished Kentucky to secede and join the Rebels. Whites in Corydon likewise wished to preserve southern slavery as a means to prevent African American migration, which was banned under Indiana's constitution. Both communities wished for compromise to end armed conflict.

Neutrality, however, proved short-lived and war descended on the river valley, hitting Frankfort harder than Corydon. The disruptions caused by Federal occupation and the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862—permitting the seizure of Rebels' slaves—irritated Frankfort's crypto-Rebels and Unionists alike. Later, guerrilla warfare and Confederate invaders brought further hardships to the town. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, while not freeing slaves in areas under Union control, threatened slavery in Kentucky. Northern troops hostile to slavery tempted bondsmen and -women to flee to the army for safety. Army recruitment of slaves beginning in 1864 further eroded the power of Frankfort's slave owners over their human property. The town's white people evinced waning support for the Union if it meant the demise of slavery.

On the other hand, Rockenbach argues, Corydon suffered no protracted military occupation. Troops did not seize the property of its citizens under the Confiscation Acts. Residents suffered no political proscription for disloyalty to the federal government. Confederate troops briefly pillaged the town and stole horses during the cavalry raid of John Hunt Morgan in 1863, causing hardship but no lasting scars. Further, the traditional cross-river bond crumbled as southern Indiana residents grew to distrust their Kentucky brethren for the latter's increasingly adamant defense of slavery, a stance that "was creeping closer to disloyalty" (p. 161). The war ended, but military occupation in Kentucky continued. Worse for Frankfort slave owners, the federal government amended the Constitution to abolish slavery. This seeming act of betrayal of white Kentuckians' loyalty drove them [End Page 242...