The South Vs South Essay

The South Vs. The South is an unprecedented novel over the notorious Civil War written by William Freehling, Freehling, born on December 26, 1935, is an American historian and author who also is a Singletary Professor of the Humanities Emeritus at the University of Kentucky. In the preface, Freehling wrote, “A satisfying Civil War narrative must also illuminate the home front” (p. xi). This is truly a unique book for the fact that the author provides an incredible viewpoint. Freehling gracefully ties in the economic, territorial, and political efforts the southern border state population had on the victory of the Union. Freehling uses the name “anti-Confederates” to describe the people, white or black, which lived along the southern Border States who were in favor of the Union’s ideals. Merely half of the southern population lived along the border which was an economic benefit because the lack of slavery along this region. This is primarily because this region was very industrialized and clings onto the North’s advantage. In fact, he allude to many ‘anti-Confederates’ encouraging slaves from the deep South to flee in the North. Because of this, he implied that the South was essentially ‘divided’. Freehling mentioned in his book that he has had conversations with Reid Mitchell demonstrating “that ‘the Southerners’ were not the same as ‘the …show more content…
Freehling does a splendid job organizing the battles of the war chronologically to go along with what he aims to say. From the assault on Fort Wagner to the battle of Vicksburg, he brings a new perspective to each of these crucial events during the Civil War. The name anti-Confederates does not only apply to the whites in the Border States, but blacks also. Many served as soldiers against the Confederate Army. This ultimately doubled the Union’s army force. This gave the North advantage because the blacks knew the territory very