Edward Alfred Pollard (1832–1872)

This was published very soon after the end of the War. Edward A. Pollard was an editor of "The Richmond Examiner" and had access to a huge amount of data and the assistance of many reporters and writers. At the time of publication he was a totally un-reconstructed Southern partisan and he defended both "state rights" and white supremacy. In his view, the South, as a separate nation, was defeated militarily and politically, but as states of the United States they should continue to exercise the rights and sovereignty granted by the Constitution and they should continue to acknowledge and honor the supremacy of the white race. He regards the term "slavery" as a misnomer for a responsible, enlightened and compassionate labor system. Quaint and indefensible as they sound to us today, these opinions were widely held by some of the most liberal and enlightened leaders of the English-speaking world in the 19th century (e.g. Wm Gladstone, sometime Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Rudyard Kipling, author and poet). In English terms they were expressed as "The White Man's Burden," "Home Rule" and "Self Determination." Such biases do not detract from Pollard's accurate account of the events of the War. However, his personal contempt for Jefferson Davis and his unrestrained admiration of Joseph E. Johnston, do. This book went through a series of reincarnations, as a two-volume and then a three-volume "Southern History of the War between the States," sold by subscription, and through a number of different editions. It is a good read and a very valuable one to the serious student of history... rather like reading a history of the English Civil War that is wrapped in a 17th century defense of monarchy, say like Clarendon's "History of the Rebellion."… (mer)