Alabamians in Blue: Freedmen, Unionists, and the Civil War in the Cotton State by Christopher M. Rein (review)

There are many good Civil War studies of southern Unionists and runaway slaves who fought against the Confederacy as Union soldiers, but Christopher M. Rein's book is among the few that combines both groups into a single, integrated narrative. His Alabamians in Blue is a detailed military history of this unusual partnership in a state that is often seen as a bulwark of the Lost Cause. He argues that, despite their noteworthy resistance behind the lines, anti-Confederate Alabamians' greatest contribution to Union victory was their service in the ranks of the conventional war effort that ultimately crushed Dixie.

Rein's narrative mentions aspects of Alabama Unionism that are familiar to many students of the topic, including the famous gathering in 1861 at Looney's Tavern in Winston County where local residents declared their independence from the Confederacy and the laudable performance of the First Alabama Cavalry (Union) as General Sherman's personal escort during his March to the Sea. Between these two signature moments, the author expounds on the dual role that anti-Confederates played in defeating the rebellion. Internally, white Alabama Unionists participated in a guerrilla struggle that disrupted Confederate control of the southern home front, while Alabama slaves fled the plantations for Union lines, thereby depriving the Confederacy of their crucial agricultural labor. Externally, white and Black Alabamians donned the blue uniform as soldiers in the Union Army and fought throughout the Western Theater, primarily as an important auxiliary to the conventional operations in that region. The author affirms prior scholarship that states that more than 2,500 white Alabamians and about 5,000 Black Alabamians served in the Federal ranks, the former mostly in the First Alabama Cavalry and the latter divided among nine regiments of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). In the process of resisting the Confederacy, Rein contends that these Alabamians forged an unlikely "biracial unionism" that, in cooperation with the Federal government, foreshadowed the political "triumvirate" that shaped both the Reconstruction years and the later Civil Rights struggle in the state.

Rein has clearly sifted through an enormous array of primary sources to find the voice of his anti-Confederate Alabamians. For whites and their families, a love of the Union shines through, as does an increasing hatred for the Confederacy. For Blacks, a persistent desire to escape slavery and fight for freedom is as straightforward as it is obvious. Rein's account of the extent and frequency of their persecution at the hands of Confederate authorities makes for grim reading. The author links the plight of both groups together in his description of Corinth, a garrison town in Mississippi where Black and white Alabamians sought refuge in the early years of the war. Corinth is well known to military historians for its value as a railroad junction, but Rein points out that it was also the closest place of safety and the only reliable source of food for thousands of Alabamians whose lives had been uprooted by the war. And it was at Corinth where most Alabamians, particularly Black contrabands, joined the Union Army. Rein's discussion of this overlooked period in the lives of Alabama's anti-Confederates is arguably the best section of the book.

Although the focus is on Alabamians, two figures stand out who were not from that state: Union general Grenville Dodge and Confederate general Nathan Forrest. Rein gives Dodge high marks for his leadership. Earlier that most of his peers, the general was receptive to recruiting loyal Alabamians for the Union Army, especially the runaway slaves whom he raised into four regiments of USCT. Dodge was then creative in using them to good effect as rear area security forces, construction teams, and gatherers of intelligence. Finally, he was aggressive with his various raiding operations, which helped destroy Confederate resources and kept much...