Book Review: Germantown during the Civil War Era: A Reversal of Fortune

Germantown during the Civil War Era: A Reversal of Fortune. By George C. Browder. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2024. Softcover, 578 pp. $49.95.

Reviewed by Scott Bumpus

Today, a drive through Germantown, Tennessee would likely belie the history of the suburban Memphis community. Manicured upper middle-class homes in neighborhoods with names like Kimbrough Grove and Forest Hill are surrounded by the commercial sprawl one expects to see in any densely populated area. Yet, the middle of town reveals the old white steeples of the Presbyterian church, historic old homes, and the depot by which daily Norfolk Southern freight trains rumble past. In 1861, Germantown was not a “sleepy typical antebellum town.”

Germantown, nestled about “fifteen country miles” from the metropolis of Memphis was a vibrant community; a robust cultural and commercial center inhabited by the full strata of white social classes. It boasted hotels, taverns, educational institutions, and a bustling rail stop along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Its residents were keenly aware of the political climate leading their nation to war. They participated as “fire eaters” lobbying for secession, as well as those who sought to retain the Union. They knew what was at stake. But in the wake of the war, they lost it all. Germantown during the Civil War Era: A Reversal of Fortune tells their story.

George Browder’s book was born from his efforts with the Shelby County Historical Commission to highlight the area’s history and promote historical tourism. Germantown serves as Browder’s case study on how a small town influenced events and set the trajectory of its course in the postwar years. It provides a vital deep dive into how the war affected an area that seemed to be distant from the “front lines” as we tend to view combat.

As a Memphis area native and graduate of Germantown High School, Browder’s work carries personal importance. The places where the story happens are familiar. I’ve stood at the depot along the old M & C Railroad where Germantown’s boys boarded trains bound for training camps of 1861, and where the US army amassed supplies to carry war into Mississippi. I recognize the names of current neighborhoods as early inhabitants. Primary sources for the book knelt in worship within the same church where I attended service. I’ve traversed the roads—now clogged with traffic—that once bore witness to raiders, both uniformed and irregular. Still, Browder’s work is not merely directed at the local populace of modern Germantown and Shelby County, but for anyone looking to see how virtually every aspect of Civil War era politics, society, combat, commerce, and recovery affected one particular town. For this reason, it is an important addition to any Civil War library.

Browder breaks his subject into three sections: the Antebellum Years, the War Years, and the Aftermath. The author includes a summary of the section at the end of each, as well as a poignant concluding chapter that proved valuable in seaming together the story. Though Browder laments the limited number of primary sources directly pertaining to Germantown itself, he was able to draw on four known diaries (one pre-war, one war-time, and two post-war) and two relevant veterans’ questionnaires. He relies on pre-existing scholarship, local newspapers, and primary sources from analogous individuals in similar towns facing like circumstances. Though some readers may be a bit perplexed by Browder’s use of “probably” as well as “likely”, he does make the case that some historic license is not only acceptable but necessary to create a full and nuanced view of the past. Browder’s work effectively refocuses the reader’s attention away from the principal armies and battles to amplify the importance of what was happening away from the front as civilians endured their own struggles at home. He weaves an entire history of the war from its roots, through the clash of arms, to a postwar America reshaped by the conflict—without delving into the popular intricacies of the war covered in other works.

This “tying together” of issues is key in Browder’s work. He covers how the town functioned in the years before disunion and how Germantown and her residents felt about secession. He goes into detail about how early enlistees in Confederate service differed from later ones and how conscription changed attitudes about the war. His description of how the cavalry conflict of the West affected the region is a main element of the book. Using both well-known participants such as Nathan Bedford Forrest, James Chalmers, and Benjamin Grierson, he includes lesser-known figures and documents to tell how the war away from the front crossed over into partisan violence, murder, and mayhem not unlike that seen out of the guerilla fighting in Missouri. The enslaved also have a voice; from their participation in pre-war society—even if only in the shadows—as well as their post-emancipation journey towards citizenship.

Browder’s “Conclusion” chapter serves not only as a recap of the work but also as an example of how historiography from the war has reshaped memory. He asserts how over time, the narrative changed. He writes, “Soon, only heroes had served—there had been no disillusioned, deserters or slackers. There had been no unwilling draftees… …Any who had deserted remembered and glorified only their service…The cultural and literary movement actually enabled the losers to write the history for a change.” (462)

Germantown did not recover its prewar stability until nearly a century after the close of the armed conflict. One gets the sense that this little town differed very little from the rest of the country itself in this aspect. Germantown during the Civil War Era does more than tell the story of one small West Tennessee town, but rather, it is the story of the entire South during those tumultuous years.

Scott Bumpus is a 6^th generation native of West Tennessee and an amateur “armchair” historian.  As a child, he fell in love with Civil War history on a family trip to Shiloh and from learning about his family connections to the period. Scott earned his bachelor’s degree in Radio-Television and another in Cinema-Photography from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He is also a partner in the family motorcycle business. Scott enjoys spending his spare time on Civil War battlefields, playing with his grandson, reading, and attending Civil War symposiums such as the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, the Seminar in the Woods at Chickamauga, and others. He is a passionate fan of Chicago Cubs baseball, music, and my bride Angie and our 3 kids. He currently lives in Mercer Tennessee.