Date of Graduation
12-2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
History
Advisor/Mentor
Jeannie Whayne
Committee Member
Daniel E. Sutherland
Second Committee Member
Patrick G. Williams
Keywords
Social sciences, Arkansas, Civil War, Ozarks, Unionists
Abstract
More than a thousand men from northwest Arkansas served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The conflict devastated a region that had previously enjoyed impressive economic growth. The years of suffering during the war eventually left the region largely depopulated. As people returned to the region after the war was over, unionists and their families fought not only to rebuild, but to secure the benefits they felt their loyalty to the federal government deserved. As unionists became Republicans in the decades after the war, Arkansas became a securely Democratic state. But Arkansas’s native Republicans leveraged their wartime loyalty into a unique relationship with the federal government that secured for them restitution for wartime losses, pensions for wartime service, and political appointments through the patronage system.
Citation
Howard, R. A. (2015). Civil War Unionists and Their Legacy in the Arkansas Ozarks. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1426