Stephanie Mccurry's Confederate Reckoning

The popular outlook of the American Civil War is that the Confederacy was defeated by the Union Army with the combined leadership of Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman. They lost because of the Union’s overwhelming manpower and economic advantages. However, there is more to it than just that. In the book Confederate Reckoning, author Stephanie McCurry states that the Confederate States of America did themselves in due to structural issues within their society. The book presents a “political history of the unfranchised” referring to Southern slaves and wartime women. Ironically, the most underrepresented groups would be one of the downfalls of the Confederacy. Slaves and women became unexpected consequences for the Confederacy as the government was forced to
Slaves were initially thought of an asset to the Confederacy as they still held the status of private property and not citizens (McCurry p.219). The South thought they’d have their support as fortification or field workers. This would free up the white men so they would not have to do any labor. This perceived asset would become a deterrent because they had no way to claim the slaves’ loyalty or service. They couldn’t control slaves leaving to the Union Army. If the Confederate Army wanted to seize a plantation slave as they were considered property, often times the family would not part with him that easily. Eventually, this becomes a civil liberty issue, as the C.S.A. were forced to recognize slaves as people of the nation not just property (McCurry p.232). As the war continued, the Confederacy became desperate with mobilization and increasing the draft age. There is talk of arming slaves but the C.S.A. would not do it as that would be giving up primary Confederate ideals. President Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee wanted it to happen, and Congress eventually were forced to permit enlistment of slave men in the national