Book Review: The Confederate Resurgence of 1864
The Confederate Resurgence of 1864. By William Marvel. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 2024. Hardcover, 344 pp. $49.95.
Reviewed by Sam Flowers
When the spring and summer campaigns of 1864 began, Confederate morale among the rank-and-file soldiers was surprisingly high. Students of the Civil War have often asked why the soldiers in gray displayed such self-assurance and enthusiasm to fight at this time despite the depressing major losses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg the year before.
Author and historian William Marvel set out to answer this question by examining the period between the Mine Run Campaign, which occurred in late November and early December 1863, and the Battle of the Wilderness in early May 1864. Marvel points out that from February to April of 1864, the Confederate military earned several victories in minor battles in different theaters of the war outside of Virginia. In essence, for many Confederate common soldiers, these now less well-known and often overlooked engagements added up over time, buoyed their spirits, and provided a sense of hope for ultimate victory, particularly when some these men transferred to either the Army of Northern Virginia or the Army of Tennessee. This, according to Marvel, explains why Confederates were so confident and itching for a major fight as they moved closer to the opening of the Overland and Atlanta Campaigns.
In The Confederate Resurgence of 1864, Marvel sets out to be part of a shifting historiography by exploring military happenings during the winter and early spring of 1864. He argues that examining soldier morale post-Gettysburg/Vicksburg was not that common among academics until the early 1990s with works by historians like George Rable, Gary Gallagher, and Alan Nolan. Since then, the general consensus is that there was a general increase in morale after the summer of 1863. Marvel’s approach and argument helps further this school of thought through a new lens.
Along with examining the military operations of early 1864, he also writes about the reactions to the Confederate victories as viewed by soldiers in other theaters, as well as those on the home front. This non-traditional style of military history provides readers with a more balanced and fuller story and bolsters the claims of some historians who have considered the major impact that minor battles could have on the emotions and motivations of those within the Confederacy.
One of Marvel’s major themes that was particularly interesting was the relationship between Confederate soldiers and United States Colored Troops (USCT) during and after combat. During the military operations that occurred within the period under examination in the book, there were three separate battle occasions: Olustee, Florida (February 20, 1864); Plymouth, North Carolina (April 17-20, 1864); and Fort Pillow, Tennessee (April 12, 1864), where Confederate soldiers killed Black prisoners of war. Marvel emphasizes this to show how soldiers’ accounts of these events raised controversy over the memory of the atrocities. Although this is not the main point of Marvel’s argument, the interpretations of these massacres from both Union and Confederate soldiers are exceptional evidence in answering why Southern morale was on the rise during this time while Northern morale was stagnant.
The Confederate Resurgence of 1864 offers an excellent interpretation of the winter and early spring of 1864 and makes a significant contribution to the historiography of this period. Marvel’s blending of traditional military campaign history with additional social and political history offers readers a more complete narrative that is compelling and is sure to be yet another classic from the author.
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Sam Flowers is an assistant professor and teaches history at Louisburg College. He received his B.A. from UNC-Charlotte and graduated with his M.A from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington under the guidance of Angela Zombek, PhD. His thesis looked at the importance of the Overland Campaign from the lenses of military significance, common soldier experience, and memory and memorialization. He is currently researching the Third North Carolina Infantry as its war service transitioned perpetuating Confederate myth and memory.
Ordered this from LSU Press; very much looking forward to it!
Looking forward to reading the book, yet I question whether three relatively minor confederate victories in non-strategic areas (Florida?, Plymouth was an incomplete victory, Pillow was no more than a raid) that had no impact then on the course of the war really can be classified as a ‘resurgence’. Granted if southern soldiers and civilians were that desperate (as I have read they were) then any victory could be heartening. A confident Confederate army just itching for a fight in the spring of 1864 seems stretching it.
I’ve read elsewhere that in the East at least morale remained high throughout most of 1864.
The mind set of folks defending their homes from cruel invaders should be a study in itself. Videos and comments by Ukraine defenders are always positive and even uplifting. I expect the Southern soldiers were generally positive, because they had to be. I forget where I read this, but the author was comparing the “gallantry” of Confederate soldiers to the relatively more grim attitudes of WW II soldiers during WW II. The author said the Confederates had to appear brave and positive to reassure the home folks. I suspect the psychology of wars fought in one’s immediate community differs from that when the war is fought 5,000 miles away.
Tom
Good review! The Confederates thought they could inflict so many casualties on the North that the Northern public would perceive the war was a hopeless stalemate, and vote for the Peace party in November.
Does the author really believe that the minor victories mention offset the loss of Vicksburg the previous July, the defeat at Lookout Mountain/Missionary Ridge the previous November and other defeats such as the loss of Meridian, MS in February 1864. Acknowledge the Army of Northern Virginia had largely recovered its morale (if not its manpower strength) after Gettysburg and Bragg was no longer the Commander out west there was a flicker of hope of waiting out the North’s patience with Lincoln’s administration but it seems like desperation rather than a resurgence. I wonder what the Confederacy would have looked like if Lincoln had lost in November 1864? Would the McClellan government have given back the southern territories conquered or would the borders been frozen as the armies occupied at the time?