Race and Radicalism in the Union Army

Lause, Mark A.

ISBN 10: 0252079256 / ISBN 13: 9780252079252

Published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, 2013

About this Item

Octavo, 186 pages. Signed by author on title page (name only). Firm binding; no loose pages. Book and cover with minimal wear.

Seller Inventory # 14779

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Race and Radicalism in the Union Army
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252079256
• ISBN 13: 9780252079252
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Collectible Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Military History & Strategy
  • Signed/Inscribed
  • U.S. History
  • Civil War

About this title

Synopsis

In this compelling portrait of interracial activism, Mark A. Lause documents the efforts of radical followers of John Brown to construct a triracial portion of the Federal Army of the Frontier. Mobilized and inspired by the idea of a Union that would benefit all, black, Indian, and white soldiers fought side by side, achieving remarkable successes in the field. Against a backdrop of idealism, racism, greed, and the agonies and deprivations of combat, Lause examines links between radicalism and reform, on the one hand, and racialized interactions among blacks, Indians, and whites, on the other.

Lause examines how this multiracial vision of American society developed on the Western frontier. Focusing on the men and women who supported Brown in territorial Kansas, Lause examines the impact of abolitionist sentiment on relations with Indians and the crucial role of nonwhites in the conflict. Through this experience, Indians, blacks, and whites began to see their destinies as interdependent, and Lause discusses the radicalizing impact of this triracial Unionism upon the military course of the war in the upper Trans-Mississippi.

The aftermath of the Civil War destroyed much of the memory of the war in the West, particularly in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The opportunity for an interracial society was quashed by the government's willingness to redefine the lucrative field of Indian exploitation for military and civilian officials and contractors.

Assessing the social interrelations, ramifications, and military impact of nonwhites in the Union forces, Race and Radicalism in the Union Army explores the extent of interracial thought and activity among Americans in this period and greatly expands the historical narrative on the Civil War in the West.

About the Author

Mark A. Lause is a professor of American history at the University of Cincinnati and the author of Young America: Land, Labor, and the Republican Community and other books.