Under policies instituted by the Confederacy; white Virginians and North Carolinians surrendered control over portions of their slave populations to state authorities; military officials; and the national government to defend their new nation. State and local officials cooperated with the Confederate War Department and Engineer Bureau; as well as individual generals; to ensure a supply of slave labor on fortifications. Using the implementation of this policy in the Upper South as a window into the workings of the Confederacy; Jaime Amanda Martinez provides a social and political history of slave impressment. She challenges the assumption that the conduct of the program; and the resistance it engendered; was an indication of weakness and highlights instead how the strong governments of the states contributed to the war effort.According to Martinez; slave impressment; which mirrored Confederate governance as a whole; became increasingly centralized; demonstrating the efficacy of federalism within the CSA. She argues that the ability of local; state; and national governments to cooperate and enforce unpopular impressment laws indicates the overall strength of the Confederate government as it struggled to enforce its independence.
#1428860 in Books The University of North Carolina Press 2013-08-01 2013-08-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.13 x 1.07 x 6.06l; 1.39 #File Name: 1469609959432 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Excellent source on PetersburgBy Ronald SausThe book is an excellent source on the type; location; and dimensions of the fortifications at Petersburg and Richmond. The auther has classified the various campaigns about Petersburg in a manner that provides for easy recall of the timeline with a better understanding of Grant's motives for each move. Each offensive provides the goal; movement; organization and result in a few pages; with the understanding that other resources should be used if one desires a blow by blow account. On the other hand; his use of first person accounts of life in the trenches; number and use of torpedoes; desertion totals and accounting of earthworks and dimensions reveal a passion for some details and the use of many resources. I particularly like the chapter on the condition of the earthworks today; indicated by personal visits by Mr. Hess. A must have book for your library. The only downside in my opinion was the meager index. There are many places; items and other details in the book that should have been included for easier reference.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. First-rate Military ScholarshipBy Bruce TrinqueEarl J. Hess's "In the Trenches at Petersburg: Field Fortifications Confederate Defeat" completes a trilogy begun with "Field Armies and Fortifications in the Civil War: The Eastern Campaigns; 1861-1864" and continued with "Trench Warfare under Grant Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign". Together with his "The Rifle-Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth"; these books certainly place Hess in the forefront of military scholars who look at the "how" of battle and not just the traditional "what" and "who". The popular view of Civil War battle is more or less that everybody stood in long lines opposite one another and blazed away until there was no one left standing; Hess's work reveals a far more complex activity.In the preface to his new book; Earl Hess remarks that "Petersburg was less of a siege than it was a traditional field campaign with some limited aspects of siege warfare." And he amply demonstrates thereafter that although field fortifications played a vital role (or multiple vital roles) in the Petersburg fighting; the campaign was much more than static trench warfare. In the past hundred years there have been only two general studies of the Petersburg Campaign published; Noah Andre Trudeau's "The Last Citadel" and John Horn's "The Petersburg Campaign"; both works somewhat limited in their depth of scholarship; plus various separate works dealing with specific events during the overall campaign (most notably Richard J. Sommers's "Richmond Redeemed" and A. Wilson Greene's "Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion"). Therefore; in the present volume Hess has undertaken to provide "a general history of the campaign to set the proper context for understanding fortifications and engineering operations". He has done an admirable job of crafting a one-volume general history of the Petersburg Campaign; although of course special attention is paid to the use of field fortifications within that campaign. Hess contends that such fortifications were not merely of defensive importance; allowing Lee to long hold out against superior numbers; but also that the rapid construction of field works served a vital offensive purpose as well; allowing Union troops to secure newly-won positions against threatened counterattacks. Although Grant's weary army stumbled badly in its initial efforts to seize Petersburg in June; 1864; in large part due to Confederate use of fortifications; within a couple months Union forces had begun to demonstrate a grasp of a strategy (Hess calls it "bite-and-hold") of making short movements to the left to extend the line in short stages; consolidating those advances by means of field fortifications; that would eventually lead to Lee's defeat and the destruction of the South's per-eminent field army. Hess presents a picture of the lengthy Petersburg Campaign as not being so much a long sequence of Confederate successes and Union failures as instead a series of steps that inexorably led to a great victory by the Union forces.Against this background of describing the overall campaign; Hess presents the details of how both Confederate and Union field fortifications were designed and built and their preservation into the modern era; and describes the practicalities of living and fighting in those entrenchments.This is a first-rate work of military scholarship; worthy of a place on the bookshelves of almost any Civil War enthusiast; one of those too-rare books that provide a genuinely new understanding of the past.6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Important Work on the Siege of Petersburg that Includes Action in RichmondBy Daniel HurleyThis is Hess' third book on the Eastern Theater; all involving analysis of the use and building of trenches; redoubts and forts during various segments of those eastern campaigns. Hess; who provides more detail on the construction of earthworks than anyone in Civil War literature does; provides an in-depth description of the type of forts and trenches for both Confederate and Union in this 9-month campaign. Starting virtually from the Confederate Howlett lines and the early but relatively weak Dimmock lines around Petersburg; Hess describes the development of the immense construction of trenches and redoubts; later numbering roughly 123 miles. He does this while describing each of Grant's campaigns to take Petersburg and Richmond. The obvious known; the battle of the crater and the late attempt by the Confederates to take Fort Steadman that ended in disaster for both sides; are superseded as Hess takes you further into the detailed on construction of all forts; works; and mining and countermining. What I like about the book are the extensive descriptions of construction; some of which will require a quick study of siege terminology. This includes how these complex works were built. He includes details on not only mining but also numerous countermining efforts. He also describes well the harsh conditions of living in these environs; such as bombproofs used for shelters. Another interesting detail is the unique description of the battlefield operations such as how 'covered ways' were provided developed to protect troops and wagons serving entrenchments and redoubts. The appendixes review the state of the earthworks immediately after the war based on testimony from the period. In addition; Hess discusses the construction of several forts; many that survive today as he discusses their construction with diagrams and pictures. The book is replete with historic photographs that demonstrate how complex these defensive works were for both sides. Hess borrows significantly from Wilson Green's very good book; "The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign: Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion's"; particularly maps. One critic notes that the book is more a micro view of Petersburg that does not provide in-depth analysis of what lead to the overall defeat. However; Hess does provide a brief discussion on the effect of Grant's constant stretching of his line west that not only severely tested Lee's manpower resources but also his engineering ability to maintain competent works. However; that detail is brief since the story is about the works; the campaign actions serving as a backdrop. The primary part of the book is 280 pages; the balance are appendices; references and index.
