Civil War Boston: Home Front and Battlefield

Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Summer 1999 by Lowenthal, Larry

Civil War Boston: Home Front and Battlefield. By Thomas H. O'Connor. (Northeastern University Press, 1997) $26.95 cloth

In recent years, the continuing flood of books on the Civil War has overflowed the banks of traditional military history and spread into fields previously cultivated by social historians. This expanded interest coincides with the emphasis of current scholarship on previously neglected population groups.

Although the sound of guns and the rumble of armies in motion is always audible in the background, this study concerns itself with Home Front Boston, describing how battlefield events affected civilians -- "changed their lives, disrupted their homes, altered their work habits, reshaped their political allegiances, transformed their ideas...."

Any city could profitably be studied in this way, but Boston is a particularly compelling subject. For most Americans, then and now, Boston and Charleston, South Carolina, represented opposite poles, the extreme expression of the differences that led to the breakup of the United States. It would be hard to think of anyone better suited to conduct such an examination than Thomas H. O'Connor, emeritus professor of history at Boston College and author of numerous books on Boston's history. This background enables him to weave details of the newspaper reports on which he relies heavily into the larger tapestry of Boston life.

O'Connor declares his intention to organize the study around four identifiable groups who were significant in the city's life: the business community, Irish Catholics, African-Americans, and women. To some degree, this is a welcome shift from the more customary emphasis on intellectuals and abolitionists, though those elements are certainly not ignored. O'Connor's adherence to this structure is strongest in the opening and closing chapters. Between, it sometimes seems that he has to remind himself to refocus, while the image blurs to a more conventional look at public opinion and political developments.

With his long immersion in Boston history, O'Connor is able to sketch his subject with sure, effective strokes, often illustrated by a striking anecdote. It is startling, for example, to be reminded, or informed, of how Jefferson Davis was lionized during a visit to the city in late 1858. O'Connor also succeeds in depicting the relationship among his selected groups, stressing the intense animosity of the Irish toward African-Americans, which persisted after the war ended. Southern perceptions to the contrary, O'Connor finds considerable personal sympathy for the South among Boston's prewar business community; one of the book's strengths is its description of how this attitude hardened into resolute determination to preserve the Union and free the slaves.

In a generally commendable publication, the absence of maps is a grave deficiency, more than merely an annoyance. There is only one extremely crude map of the city and none of the adjacent region, although place and street names are cited repeatedly in the text. Why describe a parade route in detail if the reader has no way to trace it other than by opening a separate map? Several references are made to Boston's harbor islands, but the primitive map does not indicate that Boston has a harbor, much less islands, even disregarding the fact that the configuration of the islands has changed greatly due to factors such as the construction of Logan Airport.

O'Connor freely concedes he is not a military historian and does not challenge the standard description of military events. It is not altogether surprising that lapses of chronology and geography can be found. In the most glaring of these, the text makes it appear that the first and second battles of Manassas both occurred in 1861, thereby confusing the sequence of other events.

Some reviewers define their mission as exposing such minor errors. Nowadays, when even books published by academic presses seem not to undergo editing beyond the computer spell-check, the constructive reviewer must ask whether the accumulation of defects becomes sufficient to discredit a book.

Such a harsh judgment is certainly not warranted in the case of this book, in which its virtues far outweigh the relatively inconsequential flaws. Other considerations aside, it is simply an informative and enjoyable book to read. The writing is solid and comfortable, if not flashy, and thankfully devoid of the arid intellectual constructs that afflict some contemporary academic publications.

As O'Connor demonstrates, the impact of the Civil War on Boston, while often taking unexpected directions, was profound and long-lasting. This book, therefore, is rewarding, not only for Civil War enthusiasts who want to broaden their horizon beyond the sights of a Springfield of 1861, but also for readers who would not ordinarily open a book on military matters.

Lany Lowenthal

Springfield Armory National Historic Site