Refugee Life in the Confederacy [Paperback]

Mary Elizabeth Massey (Author), George C. Rable (Introduction)

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807126888
• ISBN-13: 978-0807126882
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,238,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Civil War as real people (not Scarlett) experienced it, May 14, 2003

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K. Bourn "bohemiangirlpdx" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Refugee Life in the Confederacy (Paperback)

When Americans think about war refugees, we typically think of people made homeless due to conflicts fought on foreign soil. We tend to forget about the thousands of southerners driven from their homes during the War Between the States. Mary Elizabeth Massey's "Refugee Life in the Confederacy" describes the experience of southern refugees in fascinating detail.

While diarists provide wonderful detail about their individual lives, and to a certain extent, the lives of others they encountered, Massey's book creates a comprehensive "big picture." Massey makes a key point that one cannot rely on the experiences one or two persons to generalize about the typical refugee experience. "[T]here was no `average' refugee. A person's financial situation, personal contacts, place of refugee, ingenuity, adjustability to changing conditions, and his good fortune or lack of it combined to make each refugee's circumstances distinctive," she notes.

For instance, the ability to find continue one's chosen field of work in a new locale varied greatly depending on profession: Teachers often could make a planned departure to a new school while college professors more often found themselves out of work as their institutions closed. Doctors and herbalists were in high demand wherever they went while lawyers had to resort to a different line of work unless they managed to transport their law library. Some journalists, often targeted by Union forces for publicly airing their views, managed to continue printing from new sites.

Massey's work, originally published in 1964, relies on a wide variety of diaries, letters and other first-hand accounts. She addresses refugee conditions in all the states of the Confederacy, not just the ones that typically receive the most attention due to more famous battles occurring on their soil. She does not discuss refugees in Maryland and Pennsylvania who fled during the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, but does briefly mention pro-Union refugees who left home due to conflicts with neighbors over their allegiance.

Throughout the book, her writing style remains interesting and somewhat dramatic. Massey interweaves a broad variety of first-hand accounts into her analysis, adding further interest to her topic. Period illustrations from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly further dramatize the plight of the displaced.

"Refugee Life" begins with a brief overview of the some major events in the war that led persons to leave their homes, either temporarily or for the duration. Massey then turns to factors that led persons to decide to become refugees: scare stories about what the Union Army would do, letters from husbands and sons at war urging their wives and mothers to move to a safer place, newspaper editorials, avoiding conscription, becoming stranded after a visit to a military camp, and the desire to protect men of fighting age, including soldiers on leave, as Union forces drew near.

She argues that elite classes were more likely to become refugees than the poor for several reasons: 1) their political involvement would make them targets for Union retribution-and less willing to take the loyalty oath; 2) they more easily could afford to uproot; and 3) they had broader social contacts upon which they could draw. She notes, however, that refugeeing become a great social leveler. "After the first months it was difficult to distinguish between the classes and backgrounds of those displaced," she writes.

When civilians could make a planned departure, they might take wagons full of furniture with them, assuming they had the means to transport such a massive amount of belongings. Among the possessions that Massey describes being transported by refugees were pianos, kitchen stoves, livestock and pets, as well as other cherished furniture and household goods.

The chapters on deciding where to stay and what kind of accommodations and amenities might be available are fascinating. Massey analyzes the benefits of refugeeing to a city versus the country or a small village. She also describes the conflicts that arose when refugees stayed with extended family or had to deal with unhappy landlords. In an era where state loyalty ran high, refugees often were reluctant to leave their home states, even if few safe havens remained there, she says. As for the actual accommodations, Massey concludes that most refugees did not find what they were looking for, although different people tended to look for different things. Due to food shortages, as the war progressed, a room rarely included board. Cooking in one's room became common.

While refugees preferred a solid roof over their heads, even if that meant living in a carriage house, slave quarter or makeshift log cabin, Massey provides several examples of when refugees resided in tents, including tent cities around Petersburg, Atlanta and Fredericksburg. Tents might be constructed of blankets, quilts, and rugs.

Given the patriotic fervor of supporting the troops and making do during the blockade, one might assume that society was understanding of refugees. Not so, according to Massey. Newcomers did not receive a warm welcome, even at church, where they were asked to sit in the balcony rather than in the pews occupied by regular parishioners. Their children tended to be treated as outcasts at school. Until late in the war, fundraising efforts focused on aiding soldiers, not refugees. Massey concludes by describing the military policies of the North and South toward refugees, and efforts that ultimately were set up to provide aid.

The one drawback to "Refugee Life" is its organization. The topics of chapters are not readily available from their titles, which are quotes pulled from period documents. Fortunately, "Refugee Life" is well indexed, otherwise trying to find the section where daily life or treatment of border-state refugees was discussed would be quite time consuming. Another slight weakness in the organization is a certain amount of repetition. For instance, the chapter dealing with work opportunities goes over, albeit in greater detail, information already discussed in an earlier chapter on class distinctions.