Carolinian Crucible

Patrick J. Doyle teaches US History at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research has been published in the Journal of the Civil War Era, Journal of Social History, and Civil War History.

• Dedication; List of figures and tables; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. 'A unanimity never before witnessed': late antebellum society and the path to secession; 2. 'Like the stone of sisyphus': mobilization; 3. 'The time for conducting this war leisurely has passed: conscription; 4. 'It will take a man person with you to… keep the place up': family, gender, and the household; 5. 'A most unhappy condition of things among a people heretofore perhaps the most loyal': desertion, disaffection, and disloyalty; Conclusion; Final reflections; Notes; Bibliography.

'This bold reconsideration of class and family in civil war South Carolina offers an assessment of the economy and society particularly in the upcountry. Drawing on extensive research, Doyle examines the role of 'common whites' and contextualizes the intricacies—and perplexities- of white cohesion during wartime.' Orville Vernon Burton, Clemson University, and author of Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court