Book cover of A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the Potomac

Book description

The Army of the Potomac was a hotbed of political activity during the Civil War. As a source of dissent widely understood as a frustration for Abraham Lincoln, its onetime commander, George B. McClellan, even secured the Democratic nomination for president in 1864. But in this comprehensive reassessment of the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Republic in the Ranks as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

What were the politics of the Union army during the grinding years of the war? How did fighting soldiers, one slice of the complexity of the northern population, feel about the Union and the rising questions of slavery and emancipation? And how was this opinion shaped by a generally conservative officer corps, especially the West Point elite who had trained and served with men who were now leading the Confederate army?

In a prize-winning book, Zachery Fry carefully examines these questions in the Army of the Potomac. He found a consensus on union and a great gradient of opinion on…

From John's list on the North during the Civil War.

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