The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border Reprint Edition

Students of the Civil War know that the state of Kentucky was distinct from both North and South during the conflict. Less well known is how the whole region of the West near the Ohio and Mississippi rivers was as well. In "The Rivers Ran Backward," Christopher Phillips shows the extent to which the West was a distinct section of the country before the war and that it was divided into Northern and Southern sections only in the war's aftermath.While there were wide-ranging opinions concerning slavery in the region, most in the West were relative moderates on the question, with few abolitionists or fire-eaters. Phillips describes the politics of the late antebellum period. There was heavy Southern influence in the southern parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, with slaveholding not unknown even in those nominally free states—the author recalls cases of an Indiana man and an Ohio man eventually fighting for the Confederacy when the war came.The war itself was traumatic in Missouri, Kentucky, and elsewhere in the border region. Phillips looks at the secession debate in the slave states that remained in the Union. Life was unsettled to say the least in the region during the war, with localized skirmishes and community strife, guerrilla warfare, and strained friendships between unionists, secessionists, and neutrals. Both armies attempted to occupy parts of the region during the conflict, with conscription evaders and deserters adding to the chaos. Phillips describes the politics of the slaveholding but Union states of Missouri and Kentucky during the war and notes the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation in those places. The election of 1864 is also discussed.Phillips describes how the region known as the West during the antebellum period later came to think of itself as divided at the Ohio River between North and South in the decades following the conflict. While the war was traumatic for the entire nation, it was especially so for those borderlands that saw more than their share of the fighting and that contained people in close proximity with differing (or no) loyalties. "The Rivers Ran Backward" is a well-researched volume examining the war in an important part of the country and would be enjoyed by those with a keen interest in the Civil War.

An excellent study of the politics of racial attitudes in Middle America in both pre and post Civil War times. Truly impressive research! Unfortunately a reader will realize that our country is still adversely affected by race relations, and in some ways not totally different from the attitudes present in the 19th century. Interesting presentation of a point that "Conservative Politics" then incorporated a strong belief that the protection of property from interference by the government was an absolute right of the people and that, without regard for the human element, slaves were as much property as land, house, or horse.It is not possible to read this work and not acquire a new perspective about our society then and even now.

Excellent explanation of a little understood part of the Civil War. Adds a lot to the historical canon.

Not an easy book to read. Too verbose.

Very well written. Book was received in like new condition.

As attention paid to both the waging and consequences of the Civil War in the West(s) continues to increase, *The Rivers Ran Backward* is -- and will remain -- essential reading on the borderlands.

i found this boring. not a good read

I was particularly interested in Missouri and the Civil War. The author goes into great detail to explain the varying interests of north and south and loyalists and rebels in Missouri. I learned a lot. You could find a slaveholder who actually didn't want to leave the union, to rebels who could care less about slavery. And every variation in between. The problem with the book is how badly written it is. The author pounds layer after layer of information without offering any real overview or elegance. It is like reading a textbook and that is not a compliment.