Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten

Causes Won, Lost and Forgotten by Gary Gallagher.

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This book makes a nice companion to Edward Bonekemper's the Myth of the Lost Cause. Historian Gary Gallagher examines the last 100 years of popular depiction of the Civil War. He divides these depictions into four traditions: the Lost Cause Tradition (“LCT”), the Emancipation Tradition (“ET”), the Reconciliation Tradition (“RT”) and the Union Tradition (“UT”).

Without a doubt, the LCT has held predominance with movies like Gone with the Wind and Birth of a Nation and other movies. The LCT presents the South as a lost civilization filled with nobility and grace, conveniently ignoring slavery, except where supportive slaves can be presented.

The ET has taken the lead in recent years, starting with the movie “Glory.” The ET makes emancipation the defining issue of the Civil War.

The UT actually was the issue that initially motivated most Northerners to fight. Gallagher argues that modern Americans do not respond to appeals to “the mystic chords of memories” like our ancestors did because Union is not a contested concept.

Finally, the RT promotes the notion of a common bond that underlay both Northerners and Southerners.

Gallagher exemplifies these different traditions by citing movies and artwork. The predominance of the LCT is shown to continue in the sale of Civil War art as part of which the overwhelming interest is in depictions of Southern generals and Southern war scenes.

I enjoyed this book in part because of the discussion of movies that I haven't seen, but now want to see. Likewise, Gallagher's presentation of the four traditions offers a way of examining the presuppositions by which we understand the Civil War.