Jersey blue
Subtitle: Civil War politics in New Jersey, 1854-1865
By: William Gillette.
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: New Brunswick, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 389
Subjects: New Jersey -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865.; New Jersey -- Politics and government -- 1775-1865.
Description: This political history of New Jersey during the Civil War and the years immediately before and after invites us to rethink New Jersey's role and in particular its relationship to the border states. William Gillette argues that there is little evidence supporting the idea that New Jersey's residents were pro-southern before the war, or even antiwar during it, although attitudes toward the abolition of slavery were more ambivalent.

The perspectives Gillette offers in Jersey Blue, from the recruiting ground, the battlefield, and the home front, cast new light on New Jersey's wartime activities, state identity, and our understanding of the interrelationships between national, regional, and state developments.

Gillette takes a broader view of the politics of the Civil War as he touches on the economy, geography, demography, immigration, nativism, conscription, and law. The result is a pioneering history of New Jersey that deepens our understanding of the Civil War.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [339]-374) and index.