Gathering to Save a Nation - (Civil War America) by Stephen D Engle (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this rich study of Union governors and their role in the Civil War, Stephen D. Engle examines how these politicians were pivotal in securing victory. In a time of limited federal authority, governors were an essential part of the machine that maintained the Union while it mobilized and sustained the war effort. Charged with the difficult task of raising soldiers from their home states, these governors had to also rally political, economic, and popular support for the conflict, at times against a backdrop of significant local opposition.

Engle argues that the relationship between these loyal-state leaders and Lincoln's administration was far more collaborative than previously thought. While providing detailed and engaging portraits of these men, their state-level actions, and their collective cooperation, Engle brings into new focus the era's complex political history and shows how the Civil War tested and transformed the relationship between state and federal governments.

Review Quotes

"Engle has done more than anyone previously to survey the Union governors and make the case for their centrality." -- Journal of the Civil War Era

"Engle's study is rich and deep, thorough and convincing. . . . Explores the changes that occurred as the war lengthened with care and complexity." -- Emerging Civil War

"In a thorough and well-written study on a topic not covered in almost 70 years, Engle presents a much-needed reexamination of the relationship between Lincoln and the Union governors during the Civil War. Highly recommended." -- CHOICE

"Mr. Engle thoroughly covers a subject that has been analyzed in a piecemeal manner by prior historians, and in the process accomplishes the rare feat of adding something new to discussions of the Civil War."--Weston Democrat

"Offers a valuable and convincing corrective to a long-standing thesis on the war president and the war governors." -- Indiana Magazine of History

"Should be read by anyone interested in the growth of federal authority, as well as political historians of the Civil War Era." -- Civil War Monitor

"The definitive monograph on the relationship between federal and state government during the Civil War." -- Journal of Southern History

"Will assuredly become the standard work on the subject of Lincoln and the Union war governors for generations to come." -- Civil War Book Review

"Will long stand as the authoritative account on Lincoln's wartime relationship with the governors and is essential to understanding how the North mobilized its society on the unprecedented scale necessary to defeat the Confederacy."--North Carolina Historical Review

"Will stand for years as the book on Lincoln's relationship with the Union governors. . . . Essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand how the North mobilized to win the Civil War." -- Journal of American History