The Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic (Civil War America)

In the years after the Civil War, black and white Union soldiers who survived the horrific struggle joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)--the Union army's largest veterans' organization. In this thoroughly researched and groundbreaking study, Barbara Gannon chronicles black and white veterans' efforts to create and sustain the nation's first interracial organization. According to the conventional view, the freedoms and interests of African American veterans were not defended by white Union veterans after the war, despite the shared tradition of sacrifice among both black and white soldiers. In The Won Cause, however, Gannon challenges this scholarship, arguing that although black veterans still suffered under the contemporary racial mores, the GAR honored its black members in many instances and ascribed them a greater equality than previous studies have shown. Using evidence of integrated posts and veterans' thoughts on their comradeship and the cause, Gannon reveals that white veterans embraced black veterans because their membership in the GAR demonstrated that their wartime suffering created a transcendent bond--comradeship--that overcame even the most pernicious social barrier--race-based separation. By upholding a more inclusive memory of a war fought for liberty as well as union, the GAR's ""Won Cause"" challenged the Lost Cause version of Civil War memory.

About the Author :
Barbara A. Gannon is assistant professor of military history at the University of Central Florida, USA.

Review :
"The Won Cause is a unique and important contribution to the slowly growing literature on Civil War veterans and will help inspire historians to take closer looks at the ways that veterans and their communities responded to the decades following the war." -- Journal of the Civil War Era "A concise and provocative book. . . . [it] will force historians to reconsider many aspects of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century race relations and to listen more carefully to the voices of the veterans." -- Register of The Kentucky Historical Society "A stimulating and provocative book." -- Journal of American History "A welcome addition to the literature on the Civil War, its veterans, and its collective memory in American society between the 1860s and 1920s." -- Civil War Book Review "An insightful examination of the ways individual memory and historical fact meld together to create an organization's and a nation's public identity." -- Civil War Times "Gannon presents an original and absorbing account . . .countering current scholarship. . . . A compelling corrective to common misconceptions. . . . Pertinent and persuasive; highly recommended for Civil War specialists." -- Library Journal "Gannon's innovative research method, the logical rigor of her argument, and the persuasiveness of her evidence make this an invaluable contribution to the literatures on the Civil War, emancipation, race, and memory." -- American Historical Review "The important corrective administered [in Gannon's book] will change the way we think about the Grand Army of the Republic and race from now on." -- Journal of Southern History "This book will force readers to reconsider their assumptions about 19th-century race relations. Recommended. All levels/libraries." -- CHOICE "Uncover[s] the extent of African American participation and integration in the GAR. . . . The Won Cause brings an important new perspective." -- The Annals of Iowa