Journey To The Wilderness Analysis

In Journey to the Wilderness, Frye Gaillard offers answers to the different perspectives that the Northern and Southern states of America developed from the Civil War. While the South seemed to revel in their “glorious defeat” the North remembered it as a fight for the unification of the country. As the South’s new generations grew, they were taught “stories of gallantry and courage, and admiration of the dashing generals…whose heroism was undiminished by defeat” (25, Gaillard). However, the stories of gallantry faded as the generations grew with a sense of civil rights, the fight for basic human rights regardless of ethnicity. In the 1960’s the Civil Rights Movement influenced the history that the South had developed from their defeat, earning …show more content…
Unfortunately, that was not the hand fate dealt him, while in Mobile, Alabama, as he settled down the war called to service four of his sons. As a father, he could not sit still without worry, as a former legislator, he probably wished he had not been so quiet about his opposition to secession. However, Franklin Gaillard, one of the sons, believed with many other Southerners that the victory would be close and also supported the secession of the Southern states and wanted to be “free of the despotism which the Northern people now hang over our devoted heads…” (37). Even though Thomas did not agree with secession, he had no choice but to come to reluctant acceptance. Thomas along with others agreed that John Calhoun’s legislation would undoubtedly fuel a developing civil war in the States. However, his opposition to secession and war made him unfavorable and he lost his reelection (42-43). Although, Thomas did not fight in the war because of old age, his life ended with his children fighting an unimaginable war. He never saw the end of war, but he did see the consequences that the war brought to an untrained army fighting an industrialized one with more