Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson

Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson

What can I say at this point that hasn’t already been said about the stellar Oxford History of the United States series? McPherson’s single-volume classic on the Civil War is undoubtedly the most famous volume in the set and boy did it live up to expectations. It’s simply a fabulous book.

I think if one were interested in learning about the Civil War, I could now recommend a path depending on one’s tolerance for the subject and desired time spent on it. If I did, it would most likely look something like this:

1. No Reading Required: Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary. A wonderful, deeply moving account of the war that requires no reading whatsoever and yet still gives you a good general knowledge of both the lead up, the war itself, and its aftermath. Worthy of its fame.

2. A Slim Single-Volume History: Bruce Catton’s Civil War would be a great selection for this reader. It’s an excellent, highly readable, substantive, yet concise history of the conflict from one of the war’s most beloved writers. Every major battle is covered, if only for a page or two. Contains both military as well as social, economic and political history.

3. A Large Single-Volume History: This is where Battle Cry slides in perfectly. At just under 900 pages, it’s a bigger commitment than Catton’s affair but the reader will come away with a far more detailed understanding of what led to the war, much more nuance on the war itself, and in true Oxford History style, a deeper understanding of the social, economic, political, cultural and international factors that swirled and coalesced as the conflict dragged on. Every major battle is covered, as well as more minor skirmishes, and an event like Bull Run or Antietam will take place over many pages rather than many paragraphs.

4. A Large Multi-Volume History: I haven’t quit many books in this journey, but I did abandon Shelby Foote’s epic trilogy about 350 pages into the first book. I quit not because I wasn’t enjoying the ride, Foote’s writing lives up to its illustrious reputation, I only quit because this largely military history of the war was set to consume most of my year and I just couldn’t justify the time spent when I have so much else to read. This series covers seemingly every battle, large or small, and epic conflicts like Shiloh, Chancellorsville or Fredericksburg consume entire chapters, complete with maps throughout. If you find yourself consumed by the Civil War, as many have, this is a set to lose yourself in for many months.

All in all, I felt like McPherson’s book was the perfect volume for me.

James McPherson is one of most highly-respected and well-known Civil War historians in the country. He currently teaches at Princeton University and received a Pulitzer Prize in ‘89 for Battle Cry of Freedom. He’s been in the news more recently as a member of a group of academics that have been critical of the NY Times 1619 Project. You can read about some of his (and other eminent historians) issues with the project here.

As for Battle Cry of Freedom itself, if you’ve read other installments in this series, you’ll know what to expect here. McPherson opens with a setting of the stage, describing a country grappling with an unprecedented pace of change.

The railroads were rapidly changing the speed of travel, the telegraph accelerating communications, while steam power was transforming nearly everything else. CIties were becoming bigger, more crowded and increasingly industrialized. Most workers now served highly specialized roles, a single link in an ever-growing chain of divided labor that allowed the industrial revolution to shift into high gear. Women were fighting for the vote, abolitionists were agitating for a broader definition of freedom, and a booming immigrant population was pouring into America’s cities, setting off a nativist movement that would impact party politics across the land.

However, these changes were primarily impacting the North. In the South, life went on much as it did before. A plantation economy based increasingly on cotton, where slave labor was free and most goods were exported, the South lacked many of the hallmarks of the industrial North, namely the manufacturing facilities, iron-works, infrastructure and modern workplace practices that made America’s industrial economy the world’s most dynamic.

The divide was so stark, McPherson writes:

“Of 143 important inventions patented in the United States from 1790 to 1860 , 93 percent came out of the free states and nearly half from New England alone — more than twice that region’s proportion of the free population.”

As the economies and cultures of the North and South continued to diverge, their interests naturally began to diverge as well. Where once the nation debated along party lines, it was increasingly seeing issues through sectional lines.

While much of the debate can be traced all the way back to the compromises made in writing the Constitution itself, the Wilmet Proviso of 1846, which stipulated that slavery be prohibited in any territory acquired from the war with Mexico, was the fuse that lit the flame of succession.

If the North insisted on ramming through the Wilmot Proviso, warned John C. Calhoun in sepulchral tones, the result would be “political revolution, anarchy, civil war. ”

A chain of events then proceeded that led the way to secession. The Compromise of 1850, the publishing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, and finally Lincoln’s election as President followed quickly by the first shots at Fort Sumter.

McPherson masterfully narrates the dramatic story of these events, laying a substantive groundwork for the reader so that when the war finally begins nearly 300 pages in, it seems almost inevitable.

His telling of the war is crisp, striking the perfect balance of narrative flair and academic rigor. All of the war’s big moments are here: Sumter, Manassas, Shiloh, Antietam, Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Cold Harbor, the Wilderness, Petersburg, and Lee’s final surrender at Appomattox, a moment stirringly told in these pages:

After signing the papers, Grant introduced Lee to his staff. As he shook hands with Grant’s military secretary Ely Parker, a Seneca Indian, Lee stared a moment at Parker’s dark features and said, “I am glad to see one real American here.” Parker responded, “We are all Americans.” The surrender completed, the two generals saluted somberly and parted. “This will live in history,” said one of Grant’s aides.

I would recommend this book without hesitation to anyone wanting a single-stop to learn about the Civil War, but anyone who finishes it will quickly find, as I did, that this journey will continue. I finished the book ready to dive in even more as I quickly added books by Bruce Catton and even the novels of Michael Shaara and Stephen Crane.

I came into this project as a dedicated fan of the Revolutionary era, often wondering why the number of volumes on the store shelves of the Civil War era absolutely dwarfed those of Washington and Hamilton’s time. I now understand why. The Civil War is the opening of our modern era and the end of America’s first. If you want to understand the world you live in today, it seems to me, you need to start with the Civil War.