Southern Illinois University Press Union Heartland: The Midwestern Home Front During the Civil War

About the Author Ginette Aley is a Carey Fellow at Kansas State University and an adjunct professor of history at Washburn University. She has published articles in Agricultural History and three Midwestern journals, as well as essays in four books.J. L. Anderson, an associate professor of history at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, is the author of Industrializing the Corn Belt: Agriculture, Technology, and Environment, 1945–1972. Product Description Historians have broadened the interpretation of the US Civil War as a battle between the North and the South by revealing the “many Souths” that made up the Confederacy, but the “North” has remained largely undifferentiated as a geopolitical term. In this welcome collection, seven Civil War scholars offer a unique regional perspective on the Civil War by examining how a specific group of Northerners—Midwesterners, known as Westerners and Middle Westerners during the 1860s—experienced the war on the home front. From the exploitation of Confederate prisoners in Ohio to wartime college enrolment in Michigan, these essays reveal how Midwestern men, women, families, and communities became engaged in myriad war-related activities and support.Agriculture figures prominently in the collection, with several contributors exploring the agricultural power of the region and the impact of the war on farming, farm families, and farm women. Contributors also consider student debates and reactions to questions of patriotism, the effect of the war on military families’ relationships, issues of women’s loyalty and deference to male authority, as well as the treatment of political dissent and dissenters. Review "This compilation is recommended both as an example of the value of regional studies in their own right and how they can enhance our understanding of the Civil War, the central event in American history, by providing new contexts and perspectives."--Nebraska History"In recent years, some of the most interesting scholarship on the Civil War home front has considered how civilians in the midwestern states responded to the sectional conflict and how that distinctive region helped shape national events. This welcome collection speaks to many of the biggest issues confronted by any society in wartime: how does war affect family roles, gender identities, economic practices, and political discourse? The essays also contemplate the intertwined worlds of soldiers and civilians: how did young students decide to go to war, what did volunteers leave behind, what happened when prisoners of war entered the home front environment? Aley and Anderson have assembled an excellent lineup of established experts in the field and rising young scholars. The result is both a fascinating portrait of the midwestern home front and a valuable window into how historians are rethinking the nature of war and society."--J. Matthew Gallman, author of Northerners at War: Reflections on the Civil War Home Front"This collection presents major recent scholarship on the Midwest during the Civil War. Each essay contributes significantly to the growing field of studies on midwestern history; together they provide an original and compelling analysis of the American heartland during war. With this well-contextualized collection of essays, varied in subject matter and approach, Aley and Anderson present sweeping themes of diverse political and personal dynamics. This is an important contribution to our understanding of the enormous range of wartime experience."--Orville Vernon Burton, author of The Age of Lincoln "This is a valuable collection of well-researched case studies that pays long overdue attention to the practical and emotional impact of the Civil War on families in the rural Midwest."--Andrew Cayton, Miami University