Description
Book SynopsisCoupled with problems such as speculation, food and clothing shortages, conscription, taxation, and a focus on the protection of local interests, desertion started as a military problem and spilled over into the civilian world. This book studies desertion in the Confederate army. It confronts a question: did desertion hurt the Confederacy?
Trade Review“Mark A. Weitz’s study . . . aims to fill in one of the last remaining gaps in Civil War historiography.”—
Publishers Weekly"The author observes that desertion remains one of the least studied, and least understood, aspects of the war, a matter at least partially the result of the demands of the ‘Lost Cause’ school of Confederate historiography."—
New York Military Affairs Symposium“An impressive piece of scholarship. . . An excellent, thought-provoking study of an overlooked aspect of the Civil War.”—
Civil War Book Review“[This book] is the first attempt in decades to treat desertion in the entire South and the entire war, and it does so masterfully, despite the lost records that are the curse of any serious researcher. Mark Weitz has provided an important study of a neglected topic. His research is extensive and thorough, and his writing is clear. The combination is a well done work of history that should appeal not only to students of desertion but to anyone interested in learning more about topics beyond the battles of the Civil War and the Southern myth of the noble but lost cause.”—John H. Barnhill,
Chronicles of Oklahoma“Weitz presented his case convincingly and forcefully. . . . [He] has contributed significantly to our understanding of Confederate desertion and the way it became inextricably tied to the South’s ultimate defeat.”—
Journal of American History“Like prisoners of war, who have received little scholarly attention until recently, deserters have not been the subject of a general study since Ella Lonn’s 1928 work. This comprehensive treatment supersedes that landmark for Rebels. Dense and crowded with details, Weitz proceeds in chronological fashion, employing a disease analogy to follow the spread of desertion through all parts of the South, devoting equal attention to the eastern and western theaters, and using data not available to Lonn.”—Michael B. Chesson,
Military History of the West“A fascinating read. . . . Mark Weitz has written an important book that adds to our understanding of soldier desertion, Confederate nationalism, and defeat.”—Lesley J. Gordon,
Georgia Historical Quarterly"A pioneering study. . . . Bound to be the standard on the subject."—Brian Holden Reid,
Civil War History“Weitz must be commended for his bold attempt to tell such an important story. Hopefully, his work here will drive other scholars to revisit desertion as a topic of study and, in time, a collection of literature befitting such an important aspect of the Confederate war effort will emerge.”—Peter S. Carmichael, H-Net Book Reviews
Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1: The American Practice; 2: My Country...My Home; 3: Into the Breach, 1861; 4: Desertion in the Heartland, 1862; 5: Desertion in the East and the Folly of Leniency, 1862; 6: Desertion, Ideology, and the Insidious Business of Oaths, 1863; 7: The Number of Desertions is So Great, 1863; 8: War of the Most Wretched and Savage Character; 9: The Order of the Day, 1864; 10: We Conquered Ourselves, 1865 & Conclusion
