Across the Divide

Illustrates how the divided spheres of Civil War experience created social and political conflict far removed from the better-known battlefields of the war.

---

Union

soldiers left home in 1861 with expectations that the conflict would be short,

the purpose of the war was clear, and public support back home was universal.

As the war continued, however, Union soldiers began to perceive a great

difference between what they expected and what was actually occurring. Their

family relationships were evolving, the purpose of the war was changing, and

civilians were questioning the leadership of the government and Army to the

point of debating whether the war should continue at all.

Separated

from Northern civilians by a series of literal and figurative divides, Union

soldiers viewed the growing disparities between their own expectations and

those of their families at home with growing concern and alarm. Instead of

support for the war, an extensive and oft-violent anti-war movement emerged.

Often at odds with those at home and with limited means of communication to

their homes at their disposal, soldiers used letters, newspaper editorials, and

political statements to influence the actions and beliefs of their home

communities. When communication failed, soldiers sometimes took extremist

positions on the war, its conduct, and how civilian attitudes about the

conflict should be shaped.



In this

first study of the chasm between Union soldiers and northern civilians, Steven J.

Ramold reveals the wide array of factors that prevented the Union Army and the

civilians on whose behalf they were fighting from becoming a united front

during the Civil War. In Across the

Divide, Ramold illustrates how the divided spheres of Civil War experience

created social and political conflict far removed from the better-known

battlefields of the war.