Causes Won, Lost & Forgotten—How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know About the Civil War
by Gary Gallagher, University of North Carolina Press Popular movies and artwork have had a tremendous impact on the general public’s understanding of the war, and their influence—for good or ill—is the subject of Gary Gallagher’s Causes Won, Lost & Forgotten.
Gallagher identifies four causes, or interpretations, that have dominated public assumptions about the Civil War: the Lost Cause, the Union, Reconciliation and Emancipation. The Lost Cause presents the Civil War as a tale of the noble, chivalric, individualistic Southland subjugated by overwhelming numbers and materiel. This interpretation has had a long life and tended, along with Reconciliation, to dominate popular perceptions of the war into the 1950s. In addition to numerous, mostly Southern authors who promoted this outlook, Gallagher cites two major films, Birth of a Nation (1915) and Gone with Wind (1939), as key factors in securing the earlier dominance of this viewpoint.
Sectional reconciliation, which couched itself in mutual respect be – tween Union and Confederate veterans and their descendants, encouraged both sides to acknowledge the former foe’s courage and dedication to their respective allegiances, while remaining silent on the nature and validity of these causes.
Gallagher points out that visual, literary and spoken appreciation of the efforts of black soldiers was not absent during the war and through Reconstruction. Nevertheless, the black contribution to the Federal triumph, which necessarily emphasized emancipation as a major—if not central—objective of struggle, faded with the Reconciliation movement between Northern and Southern whites.
Some of Gallagher’s most original and thought-provoking research centers on the evolution of Civil War art, including the transformation of Robert E. Lee into the Confederacy’s omni – present icon. Just as portrayals of Union leaders declined sharply after the 1920s, so have interpretations of major Western battles in which Federal forces were mostly triumphant, and which many historians now argue constituted the decisive theater of the war.
Gettysburg, First and Second Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville receive far more attention than Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chickamauga and Chattanooga. Several of the modern artists interviewed by Gallagher explain that their market is heavily Southern and that Northern themes and personalities do not sell as well.
This may also explain the current vogue for character studies of Lee and Jackson in paternal, aristocratic poses and specifically Christian settings. Although Chamberlain and the Irish Brigade may have their adherents, the overall hue in Civil War art is gray.
Causes Won, Lost & Forgotten is a solidly re searched and intriguing exploration of the influence of popular culture on public understanding of the war. Anyone interested in the Civil War and the impact of media on historical understanding will find Gallagher’s latest book rewarding on many levels.
Originally published in the December 2008 issue of Civil War Times. To subscribe, click here.
