Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Mentor/Supervising Professor Name
Diller, Lisa
Description
This presentation examines bread riots in the Confederacy and political riots in Union-occupied territory. Southern newspapers reveal the Confederacy’s need to maintain order. Northern newspaper accounts used Southern riots to depict the Confederacy as weak, and suggest that the desire to avoid appearing weak shaped the Confederacy’s response. I will demonstrate how the desire to maintain order and avoid appearing weak tempered the Confederate use of military force and ensured riots were always met with welfare measures. In contrast, the conquering government of Union-occupied cities could and did maintain order by force, ignoring rioters’ demands.
Included in
Riots, Public Perception and Government Response in the Civil War South
This presentation examines bread riots in the Confederacy and political riots in Union-occupied territory. Southern newspapers reveal the Confederacy’s need to maintain order. Northern newspaper accounts used Southern riots to depict the Confederacy as weak, and suggest that the desire to avoid appearing weak shaped the Confederacy’s response. I will demonstrate how the desire to maintain order and avoid appearing weak tempered the Confederate use of military force and ensured riots were always met with welfare measures. In contrast, the conquering government of Union-occupied cities could and did maintain order by force, ignoring rioters’ demands.