Mutiny at Fort Jackson
The Untold Story of the Fall of New Orleans
Michael D. Pierson
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 01/2009
Pages: 264
Subject: History
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9780807887028
DESCRIPTION
The mutineers were soldiers primarily recruited from New Orleans's large German and Irish immigrant populations. Pierson shows that the new nation had done nothing to encourage poor white men to feel they had a place of honor in the southern republic. He argues that the mutineers actively sought to help the Union cause. In a major reassessment of the Union administration of New Orleans that followed, Pierson demonstrates that Benjamin "Beast" Butler enjoyed the support of many white Unionists in the city.
Pierson adds an urban working-class element to debates over the effects of white Unionists in Confederate states. With the personal stories of soldiers appearing throughout, Mutiny at Fort Jackson presents the Civil War from a new perspective, revealing the complexities of New Orleans society and the Confederate experience.