The Waning of the Old South Civilization, 1860's-1880's (review)

BOOK REVIEWS The Waning of the Old South Civilization, 1860's-188ffs. By Clement Eaton (Athens: University of Georgia, 1968. Pp. xii, 195. $4.75.) This series of essays by one of the most distinguished of southern historians is an outgrowth of Lamar Memorial Lectures at Mercer University in 1966. As Professor Eaton notes in his preface the essays describe the early stages of the transition from the Old to the New South. The volume is based upon the author's belief that "although the Civil War had a traumatic effect on the Southern spirit, much of the Old South civilization survived the war and lived on into the twentieth century." In six chapters the author examines southern society and culture on the eve of the Civil War, the effects of the war upon this society, and the slow and gradual change of attitudes and customs in the latter part of the nineteenth century. As in his earlier volumes Professor Eaton skillfully blends together the work of other historians with his own investigations in manuscript materials in various archiviai holdings throughout the South. The result is a rich synthesis, written in the graceful style that has characterized all of the author's previous works. In the first two essays Professor Eaton describes social characteristics of southern plain folk and planters in the late ante-bellum period. Using several individuals ( Dr. Richard C. Eppes of Virginia, Rev. William Moody Pratt of Kentucky, Dr. James G. Ramsey of Tennessee, and Alexander II. Stephens of Georgia) as case studies, the author notes the diversities and opportunities present in the South in the pre-war years. On the role of the aristocracy in southern politics he takes the middle ground; while agreeing with Fletcher Green that the political apparatus of government in the late ante-bellum period was democratic, Eaton points to the unfair tax structure and representation in the legislature as illustrations of an aristocratic spirit still prevailing in state and county government. As an example of one of many facets of southern culture, the author devotes one essay to the South's greatest ante-bellum historian, Charles Gayarré. As a sugar planter, slaveholder, political figure, world traveler, and man of letters, Gayarré represented the best in a patrician way of life that disappeared after the Civil War. While the war had a stimulating effect upon some of the younger southern writers such as Henry Timrod and Sidney Lanier, the effects upon older writers such as Gayarré and William Gilmore Simms were catastrophic, as they were upon southern culture in general. The greatest loss, of course, was in "the death of thousands of educated and promising young men in battle or from disease." The end of the Civil War found the southern people discouraged, embittered, and pessimistic. While Professor Eaton believes that there was almost universal satisfaction that slavery had finally been ended, he notes that there was an abandonment of the feeling of paternalism toward Negroes and a strong resentment toward those, such as northern school teachers, who attempted to aid the freedmen. On the whole, there was a general reluctance to change the old ways and customs. Although slavery was ended and the old aristocracy quickly disappeared, many of the old institutions, including the large plantation, survived the war and political reconstruction. Only after 1880 did the Old South give way to the New and even then the change, Professor Eaton believes, was most gradual. Ralph A. Wooster Lamar State College of Technology 54 ...