Even after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox; the Civil War continued to be fought; and surrenders negotiated; on different fronts. The most notable of these occurred at Bennett Place; near Durham; North Carolina; when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Union General William T. Sherman. In this first full-length examination of the end of the war in North Carolina; Mark Bradley traces the campaign leading up to Bennett Place.Alternating between Union and Confederate points of view and drawing on his readings of primary sources; including numerous eyewitness accounts and the final muster rolls of the Army of Tennessee; Bradley depicts the action as it was experienced by the troops and the civilians in their path. He offers new information about the morale of the Army of Tennessee during its final confrontation with Sherman's much larger Union army. And he advances a fresh interpretation of Sherman's and Johnston's roles in the final negotiations for the surrender.
#1152542 in Books The University of North Carolina Press 2002-06-30Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .65 x 5.98l; .94 #File Name: 0807854522286 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. The Past is a Foreign CountryBy not meOne thing that good historical writing can do is to reveal the contingent and conditioned nature of social arrangements that may seem as "natural" to us as breathing air. By that standard; "The Invention of Free Labor" is very good history indeed. It reminds us how blurry was the line between work and slavery only 250 years ago; when workers could contract themselves into a state of "voluntary servitude;" and bosses were allowed to use beatings and threats of imprisonment to compel "servants" to fulfill their contractual obligations. The emergence of "free labor" in the early 1800s was a genuine social revolution; yet one we now take for granted. The story of its emergence is well-told in this crisp; clearly-written book. I took off one star only to alert readers to the fact that the focus is on narrow legal history. Readers expecting a genuine social history of unfree labor in England and America will be disappointed.8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Changed my entire view of employment lawBy A CustomerSteinfeld's book challenges the usual view of the history of American employment law. The usual nutsell account goes: For centuries there was laissez faire; now we at least partly protect worker's rights.Steinfeld stresses that the at-will rule is a ninetheenth century invention and a radical one at that. He examines the period before the at-will rule to show that the background of modern employment doctrine is the quasi-feudal master-servant relationship; reflected in institutions like 18th century indentured servitude. Steinfeld's achievement is to pull together relatively well known facts and show step by step; how 19th century individualism reacted to prior law by creating the otherwise puzzling body of law known as the at-will rule. A must read for any labor scholar.
