The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002 Page: 188
741 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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188 Southwestern Historical Quarterly July
commissioners who without trials could send to jail persons suspected of disloy-
alty, often because of prewar unionism. The commissioners often continued to
act in periods when habeas corpus had not been suspended. Thus Neely chal-
lenges the earlier view that Confederate attorneys and judges strictly defended
civil liberties.
The author also explores the treatment of political dissenters in eastern
Tennessee, western Virginia, and North Carolina. He finds most of them to be
middle-class farmers rather than mountaineers, with hundreds arrested begin-
ning in 1861 and held in prisons unless they accepted Confederate military ser-
vice. There is brief discussion about arrests of American Indians, free blacks and
slaves, poor whites, religious pacifists, northerners, and European immigrants.
The author concludes that political dissent undermined Confederate unity as
much as states rights, class conflict, or economic problems.
Finally, the image of Jefferson Davis as a defender of individual rights is ana-
lyzed. Davis presented a public picture of the Confederacy as protecting civil lib-
erties to win over border states and European public opinion, while supporting
the arrest of civilians suspected of dissent or disloyalty throughout the war. Thus
Neely sees Davis's record as similar to that of Lincoln.
In this clearly written volume Neely offers new conclusions based on extensive
new evidence. While the book will generate some discussion, the analysis gener-
ally seems sound. Because the newly located records are from the eastern
Confederacy, this volume should be read in conjunction with recent books on
similar events in Texas. Southern Rights is a significant volume that should
become the basic study of Confederate civil liberties.
Texas Tech Unzversity ALWYN BARR
The Conquest of the Karankawas and the Tonkawas, z82z1-1859. By Kelly F. Himmel.
(College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1999. Pp. xvi+192. ISBN o-
89096-867-5. $32.95, cloth.)
This work explores the conquest of two Native American societies within the
social, political and economic dynamics of Texas as the region was undergoing
incorporation into the emergent industrial-mercantile economy of the larger
world system. Drawing upon contemporary documents, Himmel, a sociologist,
traces the ways in which the Karankawas and the Tonkawas attempted-and
finally failed-to negotiate their own cultural and ethnic survival in the face of
forces of change that were, ultimately, overwhelming.
The book is organized chronologically, with the experiences of the
Karankawas and Tonakawas compared and contrasted for each of several
definable historical periods. Beginning with a summary of extant knowledge
of the two societies prior to 1821, Himmel takes his reader through the peri-
ods of Mexican Texas (1821-1835), the Republic of Texas (1836-1845) and,
finally, the beginnings of statehood, showing how changing geopolitics, eco-
nomics and cultural attitudes and perceptions affected relations with the
native peoples and the fates of native communities. Himmel points out, for
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002, periodical, 2002; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101222/m1/196/?rotate=90: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.