Divided We Fall: The Confederacy's Collapse From Within - A State-by-State Account

“Calvin Goddard Zon has made a substantial contribution to Civil War history by relating the discontent and outright resistance in some cases by Southerners who dissented with the South’s decision to secede from the Union in 1861.
Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump, Vicksburg 1863, Shiloh 1862, Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville

“Not all opposition to the Civil War or its continuance came from the Northern Copperheads and other opposition to President Lincoln and his war policy. War weariness permeated the South too. In this refreshing and original book, the author tells this provocative story state by Confederate state. This effort makes for an excellent read.”
Frank J. Williams, author of Judging Lincoln, founding chair of The Lincoln Forum and president of the Ulysses S. Grant Association

“In Divided We Fall: The Confederacy’s Collapse from Within, the author demonstrates that active and passive resistance to Confederate authority by white Southerners was widespread, from disgruntled soldiers and dirt farmers upset that wealthy slaveholders got special treatment to opponents of slavery and loyal Unionists. Some opponents organized guerilla bands that fought Confederate forces and provided crucial intelligence to Union authorities. The book provides many insights into the many-faceted resistance to Confederate authority and the role it played in its ultimate collapse. It would be a welcome addition to any Civil War library.”
Richard N. Griffin, author of Three Years a Soldier

“In this work, Calvin Goddard Zon has done the Civil War community a great service in pointing out the Unionist dissidents in the Confederate states.”
William Connery, author of Civil War Northern Virginia 1861 and Mosby’s Raids in Civil War Northern Virginia

The Southern war for independence was ultimately lost on the battlefield, but the collapse of the home front was equally decisive. Northern opposition to the war, from the peacenik Copperheads to the New York draft riot, is a familiar story. Much less is known about the widespread Southern opposition to the Confederacy which, this book argues in a state-by-state account, led to its downfall.

Dissent took many forms: the initial rejection of secession by four Southern states, secret peace organizations, Unionist guerilla bands, urban spy networks, resistance to the draft, a rising tide of desertions, food riots, and the states’ rights dogma that undermined strategic military cooperation with the government in Richmond.

Anti-Confederate activity was scattered across a surprising number of towns, cities, and counties in the 11 states of the Confederacy. Opposition to secession was especially strong in the mountainous, mostly non-slaveholding sections of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Some 100,000 white Southerners enlisted in the Union army, and a state-by-state breakdown is included.

Policies enacted by the Confederate Congress which favored wealthy slaveholders aggravated class disparities, and contributed to a growing disenchantment and active obstruction of the Southern cause.

Each of the 11 states is examined, in order of their secession, and accounts are given of activities and organizations of Southern Unionists and their leaders, who ranged from high-society spies and a turncoat Confederate general to dirt-farmer guerrillas, propagandists, and politicians. The book includes 20 illustrations of these individuals, as well as official monuments, plaques, and grave markers erected to honor martyred Southern Unionists and Southern soldiers who served in the Union army.