Overview

Finalist for the 2011 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize ""A seminal work. . . . One of the best examples of new, sophisticated scholarship on the social history of Civil War soldiers."" —The Journal of Southern History “Will undoubtedly, and properly, be read as the latest word on the role of manhood in the internal dynamics of the Union army."" —Journal of the Civil War Era During the Civil War, the Union army appeared cohesive enough to withstand four years of grueling war against the Confederates and to claim victory in 1865. But fractiousness bubbled below the surface of the North’s presumably united front. Internal fissures were rife within the Union army: class divisions, regional antagonisms, ideological differences, and conflicting personalities all distracted the army from quelling the Southern rebellion. In this highly original contribution to Civil War and gender history, Lorien Foote reveals that these internal battles were fought against the backdrop of manhood. Clashing ideals of manliness produced myriad conflicts, as when educated, refined, and wealthy officers (“gentlemen”) found themselves commanding a hard-drinking group of fighters (“roughs”)—a dynamic that often resulted in violence and even death. Based on extensive research into heretofore ignored primary sources, The Gentlemen and the Roughs uncovers holes in our understanding of the men who fought the Civil War and the society that produced them.

Full Product Details

Author:   Lorien Foote
Publisher:   New York University Press
Imprint:   New York University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.340kg
ISBN:  

9781479897841

ISBN 10:   1479897841
Pages:   252
Publication Date:   21 June 2013
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

"Acknowledgments Introduction: The Contested Terms of Manhood 1 ""A Good Moral Regiment"": Conduct Unbecoming a Gentleman 2 ""The Model of the Gentleman"": Gentility and Self-Control 3 ""A Regular Old-Fashioned Free Fight"": Physical Prowess and Honor 4 ""If You Will Go with Me outside the Lines"": Dueling and the Degenerate Affair of Honor 5 ""The Thick-Fingered Clowns"": Social Status and Discipline 6 ""The Shoulder-Strap Gentry"": Officers, Privates, and Equal Manhood Conclusion: The War for Manhood Appendix: Note on Method and Sources Notes Bibliography Index About the Author"

Reviews

This might be the first 'military history' to take gender seriously, as well as the first gender history to accord military history its due. Amy S. Greenberg, author of Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire It is commonplace to observe that war is the ultimate test of the 'manhood' of soldiers. But in the Civil War - as probably in all wars - the meaning of manhood was contested, as Lorien Foote makes clear in this fine study of Union soldiers. Making intelligent use of regimental reports and court-martial records, among other kinds of evidence, she teases out the various perceptions of manhood in this study that offers stimulating new interpretations of the values of soldiers in the broader context of American Victorian culture. James M. McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era From hazing with mule urine to pistols at ten paces, Foote provides a lively portrait of 'conduct unbecoming' and offers new insights into American masculinity in post-Civil War America. Catherine Clinton, author of Mrs. Lincoln: A Life The Gentlemen and the Roughs is an interesting book, carefully researched and covering an area of the Civil War that has been virtually ignored. J.W. Thacker, The Daily News Bowling Green Kentucky Lorien Foote in The Gentlemen and the Roughs provides a fascinating perspective on the pervasive issues of manhood and honor that served to undermine the cohesion of the Union army ... Her research, which looks at the social history of military relationships, is invaluable to broadening our overall understanding of the American Civil War. Ryan Keating, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society Finalist for the 2011 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize A seminal work... One of the best examples of new, sophisticated scholarship on the social history of Civil War soldiers. The Journal of Southern History Will undoubtedly, and properly, be read as the latest word on the role of manhood in the internal dynamics of the Union army. Journal of the Civil War Era

Lorien Foote in The Gentlemen and the Roughs provides a fascinating perspective on the pervasive issues of manhood and honor that served to undermine the cohesion of the Union army . . . Her research, which looks at the social history of military relationships, is invaluable to broadening our overall undertanding of the American Civil War. -Ryan Keating, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

Author Information

Lorien Foote is Professor of History at Texas A&M and the author of Seeking the One Great Remedy: Francis George Shaw and Nineteenth-Century Reform.

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