While the Reconstruction Era lasted only a short time its impact on the nation’s progression was far reaching. Scholar Douglas R. Egerton attempts to encapsulate the trials and tribulations of Reconstruction in his publication, The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era. The slaves might not have freed themselves, but it was up to them, according to Egerton, to build some sort of appreciable meaning into that freedom. For that purpose Egerton sets Reconstruction in the South.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Egerton does not rely on narrative stylings to tell Reconstruction’s story; instead he utilizes an array of local primary sources such as newspaper reports, case law, and various other outlets to impart the story for his audience. Almost immediately he sets a tone in which “Reconstruction did not fail,” as some Historians have long maintained; rather he states it was “violently overthrown by [the same] men who had fought for slavery during the Civil War, [continuing] that battle as guerrilla partisans” throughout the succeeding decades. (p. 19)
Arguably, his most successful chapter is the fourth: “The Lord Has Sent Us Books and Teachers;” his focus being “missionaries and community formation.” (p. 134) The shortly lived Freedmen’s Bureau assisted in the transition of slaves becoming ‘settled’ free citizens in the South. It is also in this chapter that Egerton reminds readers “that the Reconstruction era neither reached a precise conclusion nor failed to achieve all of its goals,” an important distinction to make considering segregation would continue for nearly eight more decades, before Brown vs. The Board of Education would be voted on. “Hundreds of new schools [were] sponsored by the federal Freedmen’s Bureau,” and as Egerton kindly notes- it was an uphill battle. (p. 11) Northern teachers traveled south, doing so accompanied by Union troops; the Bureau was never “elevate(d)…into the president’s advisory circle [and so] remained under military auspices.” (p. 147) Blacks had to force legislation that would require their children to maintain “regular attendance” in hopes of remedying the “forced ignorance and degradation” of their past.” (p. 148) The Freedmen Bureau had limited resources, funds, teachers, and facilities with which to indoctrinate the thousands of children, and their parents, who needed (demanded) educating; accordingly, Egerton does not shy away from the dedication and courage Northern teachers showcased. Especially in the face of homegrown terrorists such as the Ku Klux Klan.
That the Freedmen’s Bureau had such “spectacular gains in literacy” proves, according to Egerton, it’s success as an organization and the agency of Reconstruction in our nation’s history. (p. 166) The implementation of schools in the South were only one of the functions the Freedmen’s Bureau undertook, being responsible for assisting with housing, providing food, medical assistance; truly reforming “every aspect of society.” (p. 270)
At the end of the day (by the end of the his book), I believe one of the most significant take aways from The Wars of Reconstruction is that 150 years after the Civil War, after Reconstruction, we still find it “impossible to separate religion and government” and our schools are still a mess on the grounds of funding, location, and the ethnicity of student body population. (p. 143) It is impossible to do justice to any book in a review of less than one thousand words, however, Egerton puts forth spectacular effort breaking down a largely misunderstood portion of American history. He not only explicates the successes of Reconstruction, but elucidates how failures and setbacks were at the hands of homegrown “terrorists” set on thwarting true nationalism and growth. (p. 240)
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