Author Name:   John W. Shaffer

Title:    Clash of Loyalties: A Border County in the Civil War

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The wounds of the Civil War cut most bitterly in the border states where conflicting loyalties and traditions ripped apart communities, institutions, and families.

Barbour County is a telling microcosm of the deep divisions, which both caused the war and were caused by it. Nearly half of the military-age men in the county served in the armed forces, almost perfectly divided between the Union and Confederacy.

After West Virginia split with Virginia to rejoin the Union, Confederate soldiers could not safely visit their homes on furlough, or even send letters to their families. Conflicting loyalties crossed nearly all social and economic lines; even the county’s slave owners were evenly divided between Union and Confederate sympathies.

With a meticulous examination of census and military records, genealogies, period newspapers, tax rolls, eyewitness accounts, and other relevant documents.

Clash of Loyalties presents a compelling account of the passion and violence which tore apart Barbour County and the nation.

West Virginia University Press


Price = 40.00 USD