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Secession Winter: When the Union Fell Apart.
Three historians examine what drove southern secession in the winter of 1860-1861 and why it culminated in the American Civil War.
Politicians and opinion leaders on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line struggled to formulate coherent responses to the secession of the deep South states. The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in mid-April 1861 triggered civil war and the loss of four upper South states from the Union. The essays by three senior historians in Secession Winter explore the robust debates that preceded these events.
For five months in the winter of 1860–1861, Americans did not know for certain that civil war was upon them. Some hoped for a compromise; others wanted a fight. Many struggled to understand what was happening to their country. Robert J. Cook, William L. Barney, and Elizabeth R. Varon take approaches to this period that combine political, economic, and social-cultural lines of analysis. Rather than focus on whether civil war was inevitable, they look at the political process of secession and find multiple internal divisions—political parties, whites and nonwhites, elites and masses, men and women. Even individual northerners and southerners suffered inner conflicts.
The authors include the voices of Unionists and Whig party moderates who had much to lose and upcountry folk who owned no slaves and did not particularly like those who did. Barney contends that white southerners were driven to secede by anxiety and guilt over slavery. Varon takes a new look at Robert E. Lee’s decision to join the Confederacy. Cook argues that both northern and southern politicians claimed the rightness of their cause by constructing selective narratives of historical grievances.
Politicians and opinion leaders on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line struggled to formulate coherent responses to the secession of the deep South states. The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in mid-April 1861 triggered civil war and the loss of four upper South states from the Union. The essays by three senior historians in Secession Winter explore the robust debates that preceded these events.
For five months in the winter of 1860–1861, Americans did not know for certain that civil war was upon them. Some hoped for a compromise; others wanted a fight. Many struggled to understand what was happening to their country. Robert J. Cook, William L. Barney, and Elizabeth R. Varon take approaches to this period that combine political, economic, and social-cultural lines of analysis. Rather than focus on whether civil war was inevitable, they look at the political process of secession and find multiple internal divisions—political parties, whites and nonwhites, elites and masses, men and women. Even individual northerners and southerners suffered inner conflicts.
The authors include the voices of Unionists and Whig party moderates who had much to lose and upcountry folk who owned no slaves and did not particularly like those who did. Barney contends that white southerners were driven to secede by anxiety and guilt over slavery. Varon takes a new look at Robert E. Lee’s decision to join the Confederacy. Cook argues that both northern and southern politicians claimed the rightness of their cause by constructing selective narratives of historical grievances.
Unknown Binding
First published March 22, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 22, 2025
This book is a collection of three essays (or lectures) by three different scholars, all dealing in some way with the "secession winter" between the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 and the outbreak of Civil War in April 1861. The first, by William Barney, argues that unconscious guilt over slavery played a big role in how Southerners reacted to Lincoln's election. Elizabeth Varon, whose work I have enjoyed (and whose participation led me to read this book), writes about Robert E. Lee's decision to leave the service of the United States and later to join the Confederacy. She complicates the heroic portrait sometimes urged of Lee, and also made me realize for the first time that secession from the Union and joining the Confederacy were not inherently the same decision. In the third essay, Robert Cook looks at how historical memory of the American Revolution inspired and influenced both North and South.
It was very interesting to delve into this period. Reading all three essays helped me imagine a time when the Civil War and its outcome were far from inevitable. This is a relatively short but worthwhile read for those interested in this period of American history.
It was very interesting to delve into this period. Reading all three essays helped me imagine a time when the Civil War and its outcome were far from inevitable. This is a relatively short but worthwhile read for those interested in this period of American history.
January 18, 2021
Secession Winter is both a informative, intriguing and entertaining timeline of the Secession Crisis that preceeded the Civil War.
And at times bring to light the similarities to, at times if you were reading this book in 2020 and 2021 you could almost mistakenly think it was talking about today.
This book is a great resource
And at times bring to light the similarities to, at times if you were reading this book in 2020 and 2021 you could almost mistakenly think it was talking about today.
This book is a great resource
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews