Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Session 4.07 History and Environmental Issues
Presentation #1 Title
The Nature of War: Environmental Perspectives on the Civil War and Reconstruction in East Tennessee
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
“If we can take and hold Chattanooga and East Tennessee, I think the Rebellion must dwindle and die.” President Abraham Lincoln’s prescient observation underscored the importance of East Tennessee’s Civil War campaigns. At critical juncture of strategic terrain and rail lines, East Tennesseans witnessed terrific, and horrific, battles and maneuvers. During the penultimate point of disunion, over 50,000 fighting men fell victim to East Tennessee’s brutal war. Though a growing contingent of scholars have turned a scholarly eye to southern Appalachia’s role in the Civil War, the role of the environment in this narrative has been largely ignored. This panel’s papers attempt to discern the reciprocal roles played by people and environment during the pivotal events in East Tennessee. Jonathan Winskie analyzes how soldiers experienced, perceived, and were thus mentally affected by the unique environment of the Chattanooga area. Rob Baker continues the narrative through investigating Patrick Cleburne’s use of heights to a tactical advantage while serving as the rear guard for the Confederate retreat from Chattanooga, and how the altered land affected the lives of those that subsisted on it. Katharine Dahlstrand carries the theme of altered land and lives into Reconstruction, where she analyzes institutional environmental exclusion of the African American populations seeking autonomy in East Tennessee. Dr. John Inscoe will critique the papers, thus assisting in the students’ scholarly development. As these papers elucidate, environment is not only the passive recipient of human alteration, but rather it plays an integral role in East Tennessee’s Civil War narrative.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Jonathan Winskie is a senior History major and Appalachian Studies minor at the University of North Georgia. He has spent two summers as a seasonal Park Ranger at Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in History with a focus in environmental history.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Robert L. Baker is a graduate of Carson-Newman College (now Carson-Newman University) with a B.A. in History. He graduated from North Georgia in 2011 with an M.A.T. and is currently enrolled in the M.A. in History at the University of North Georgia. His thesis is focusing on the evolution of the American military and military policy in the early republic. In his spare time, he teaches social studies at Collins Hill High School in Gwinnett County, Ga., and runs a blog titled The Historic Struggle.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Katharine Dahlstrand just completed her MA in history at Florida Atlantic University where she studied environmental history and the Reconstruction era in East Tennessee. Her paper derives from her Master's Thesis, "A Nation of Outsiders: Industrialists, African Americans, and Veterans in East Tennessee during Reconstruction."
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Dr. John C. Inscoe is the Albert B. Saye Professor of History and University Professor at the University of Georgia. The author of several books on Civil War Appalachia, he is currently the editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia and Secretary-Treasurer of the Southern Historical Association.
The Nature of War: Environmental Perspectives on the Civil War and Reconstruction in East Tennessee
harris Hall 137
“If we can take and hold Chattanooga and East Tennessee, I think the Rebellion must dwindle and die.” President Abraham Lincoln’s prescient observation underscored the importance of East Tennessee’s Civil War campaigns. At critical juncture of strategic terrain and rail lines, East Tennesseans witnessed terrific, and horrific, battles and maneuvers. During the penultimate point of disunion, over 50,000 fighting men fell victim to East Tennessee’s brutal war. Though a growing contingent of scholars have turned a scholarly eye to southern Appalachia’s role in the Civil War, the role of the environment in this narrative has been largely ignored. This panel’s papers attempt to discern the reciprocal roles played by people and environment during the pivotal events in East Tennessee. Jonathan Winskie analyzes how soldiers experienced, perceived, and were thus mentally affected by the unique environment of the Chattanooga area. Rob Baker continues the narrative through investigating Patrick Cleburne’s use of heights to a tactical advantage while serving as the rear guard for the Confederate retreat from Chattanooga, and how the altered land affected the lives of those that subsisted on it. Katharine Dahlstrand carries the theme of altered land and lives into Reconstruction, where she analyzes institutional environmental exclusion of the African American populations seeking autonomy in East Tennessee. Dr. John Inscoe will critique the papers, thus assisting in the students’ scholarly development. As these papers elucidate, environment is not only the passive recipient of human alteration, but rather it plays an integral role in East Tennessee’s Civil War narrative.
