Thousands of newcomers flocked into the Upper Mississippi country in the decades leading up to the Civil War. Illinois; Wisconsin; Iowa; Missouri; and Minnesota received immigrants from most areas of Europe; as well as Americans from the Upper South; New England; and the Middle Atlantic states. They all carried with them religious beliefs; experiences; and expectations that differed widely; attitudes and opinions which often threw them into conflict with each other.German and Irish settlers predominated in the European influx; fleeing oppression and hard times in their homelands. Author Mark Wyman shows how the early struggles with the British; the potato famine; and a difficult land tenure system made Irishmen quick to take offense when proselytizers and employers pressured them in America. Germans; Wyman explains; frequently came from a tradition of religious dissension and areas of overly-fragmented landholdings-a background crucial to their reactions to Midwestern events.New Englanders; who dominated much of the economic and political life in Upper Mississippi communities; tended to look down on the Southerners and Europeans who moved into the region with them. The Yankees; as they were called; often arrived with a reforming mission in mind-a mission others resented. As these diverse groups spread across the Midwest in the years between 1830 and 1860; they frequently clashed over such issues as drinking; public schools; and the proper observance of the Sabbath. Even slavery; the issue that became overriding by 1860; affected the newly arrived peoples of the "Great Valley" in differing ways.Drawing extensively on family letters sent home to Europe; missionary reports; employment records; and other diverse materials; this book shows the interplay between the major groups traveling the roads and waterways into the Upper Mississippi Valley during those crucial decades. Immigrants in the Valley is a lively; extensively-illustrated account which will help Americans everywhere better understand t
#2345181 in Books Vanderbilt University Press 1994Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .61 x 5.98l; .90 #File Name: 0826512534300 pages
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. The Best of Biographies on Champ FergusonBy RonAlthough written in 1942; I believe this to be the best of the biographies on this notorious character of the Civil War. It is clearly written; and uses much of the actual witness testimony given at the 1865 trial of Champ Ferguson in Nashville. Living within the area of Tennessee where many of these atrocities occurred; it is still a divisive topic among those descendents that chose different sides to support during the war. All of the biographies describe the killings; but the Sensing book brings home the horrifying details in the use of actual witness testimony and Champ's own thoughts about many of the killings in his subsequent interviews with newspaper reporters after the trial and before his execution. On a personal level; I do not know how anyone can come away from reading this with the sense that Champ was doing the killings for God; Country; or the Confederacy. He was a cold blooded; calculating killer; that killed unarmed men for the most part; many sick in bed or lay wounded on the battlefield or in the hospital. He gave no quarter during the war nor asked for any by all accounts. A good read; and puts the reader in the position to make up their own mind about his war time activities.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Cahmp FergusonBy LeaGreat book based on historical facts. Seems one of my g-g-grandfathers rode with him during the Civil War. True historical fact; have lots of documentation about this so; of course; I enjoyed the book greatly.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Hero or villain?By V. ProtopapasChamp Ferguson was one of those characters in the Civil War whose evaluation seems to depend upon which side is doing the 'evaluating'. Ferguson was hanged for murders he committed during the war in which he fought as a 'guerrilla' (Yankee definition) or 'partisan' (Confederate definition). The problem with most guerrilla/partisan fighters in Ferguson's theater of the war and also in the border states of Kansas and Missouri; was that private feuds often intruded into military actions. Hence; Ferguson's 'murder' of a wounded Union soldier is traced in several instances to attacks upon his family.But whatever the case; when the time came to hang the tall man; even some Yankees seemed to feel that Ferguson was being hanged for actions that were being 'overlooked' in other theaters of war; especially in northern Virginia where several partisan groups had been VERY active. Commanders such as John S. Mosby and Hanse McNeill had participated in the hanging of Yankee soldiers involved in the destruction of civilian homes in the Shenandoah and elsewhere. While McNeill died during the war; his son (who took over the command) as well as Mosby were not prosecuted afterwards although in Mosby's case; there was some evidence of a desire to have him tried after Ferguson's execution.The author gives a fairly balanced view of Ferguson's life. Unlike Mosby and other more educated commanders and/or the men who served under them; Ferguson left very little personal record of his thoughts and motives which means that those studying the man can only go by his actions and the evaluation of his contemporaries on both sides.Champ Ferguson; like Quantrill; the James boys and other 'bloodthirsty guerillas' of the era; is a worthy study for anyone who wishes to understand the tenor of the times in that fratricidal era.
