The Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic
In the years after the Civil War, black and white Union soldiers who survived the horrific struggle joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)--the Union army's largest veterans' organization. In this thoroughly researched and groundbreaking study, Barbara Gannon chronicles black and white veterans' efforts to create and sustain the nation's first interracial organization.

According to the conventional view, the freedoms and interests of African American veterans were not defended by white Union veterans after the war, despite the shared tradition of sacrifice among both black and white soldiers. In The Won Cause, however, Gannon challenges this scholarship, arguing that although black veterans still suffered under the contemporary racial mores, the GAR honored its black members in many instances and ascribed them a greater equality than previous studies have shown. Using evidence of integrated posts and veterans' thoughts on their comradeship and the cause, Gannon reveals that white veterans embraced black veterans because their membership in the GAR demonstrated that their wartime suffering created a transcendent bond--comradeship--that overcame even the most pernicious social barrier--race-based separation. By upholding a more inclusive memory of a war fought for liberty as well as union, the GAR's "Won Cause" challenged the Lost Cause version of Civil War memory.
1100314452
The Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic
In the years after the Civil War, black and white Union soldiers who survived the horrific struggle joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)--the Union army's largest veterans' organization. In this thoroughly researched and groundbreaking study, Barbara Gannon chronicles black and white veterans' efforts to create and sustain the nation's first interracial organization.

According to the conventional view, the freedoms and interests of African American veterans were not defended by white Union veterans after the war, despite the shared tradition of sacrifice among both black and white soldiers. In The Won Cause, however, Gannon challenges this scholarship, arguing that although black veterans still suffered under the contemporary racial mores, the GAR honored its black members in many instances and ascribed them a greater equality than previous studies have shown. Using evidence of integrated posts and veterans' thoughts on their comradeship and the cause, Gannon reveals that white veterans embraced black veterans because their membership in the GAR demonstrated that their wartime suffering created a transcendent bond--comradeship--that overcame even the most pernicious social barrier--race-based separation. By upholding a more inclusive memory of a war fought for liberty as well as union, the GAR's "Won Cause" challenged the Lost Cause version of Civil War memory.
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The Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic

The Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic

by Barbara A. Gannon
The Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic

The Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic

by Barbara A. Gannon

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Overview

In the years after the Civil War, black and white Union soldiers who survived the horrific struggle joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)--the Union army's largest veterans' organization. In this thoroughly researched and groundbreaking study, Barbara Gannon chronicles black and white veterans' efforts to create and sustain the nation's first interracial organization.

According to the conventional view, the freedoms and interests of African American veterans were not defended by white Union veterans after the war, despite the shared tradition of sacrifice among both black and white soldiers. In The Won Cause, however, Gannon challenges this scholarship, arguing that although black veterans still suffered under the contemporary racial mores, the GAR honored its black members in many instances and ascribed them a greater equality than previous studies have shown. Using evidence of integrated posts and veterans' thoughts on their comradeship and the cause, Gannon reveals that white veterans embraced black veterans because their membership in the GAR demonstrated that their wartime suffering created a transcendent bond--comradeship--that overcame even the most pernicious social barrier--race-based separation. By upholding a more inclusive memory of a war fought for liberty as well as union, the GAR's "Won Cause" challenged the Lost Cause version of Civil War memory.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780807877708
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date: 05/30/2011
Series: Civil War America
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 296
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Barbara A. Gannon is assistant professor of military history at the University of Central Florida.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Barbara Gannon has written a fine piece of scholarship with highly impressive, groundbreaking research. This important study will be a major contribution to the literature on the Civil War.—Donald R. Shaffer, author of After the Glory: The Struggles of Black Civil War Veterans

This important, in-depth study goes far toward explaining the postwar experiences of Civil War veterans and particularly the racially charged political atmosphere that African American veterans faced at the local, state, and national levels.—Joseph P. Reidy, co-editor of Freedom's Soldiers: The Black Military Experience in the Civil War

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