Fighting on the Losing Side in the US Civil War
Dr Patrick Doyle gives a talk on class in the Confederacy at Ealing Green Church
Why did poor whites support the interests of rich elites in the south
March 25, 2025
The guest speaker at the next meeting of the Ealing Branch of the Historical Association is to be Dr Patrick Doyle.
A Lecturer in United States History at Royal Holloway, University of London, he will be giving a talk on A Rich Man’s War and a Poor Man’s Fight? Revisiting Class in the Confederacy During the U.S. Civil War.
The phrase “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight” has been used by some commentators, both contemporaries and historians, to characterise the Confederate war effort during the U.S. Civil War. What they mean by this turn of phrase is that the war foisted excessive and unfair burdens on lower-class whites while their wealthier neighbours dodged service and sometimes profited at the expense of poorer people. It also implies that the fundamental objective of the Confederacy – the defence and maintenance of the institution of slavery – was something poorer whites had little investment in.
Drawing on the research and arguments of Dr Doyle’s forthcoming book on the wartime experience of South Carolina, this talk revisits the question of class and the Confederate cause and seeks a more nuanced perspective; he argues that class hierarchy and frustration were central, inescapable parts of the world in which lower-class whites lived but, equally, they did not construe the Confederacy as representing the interests of selfish elites at the expense of their own.
The event takes place on Tuesday 8 April from 7:30pm-9pm, at Ealing Green Church, W5 5QT.
All are welcome to attend . Members pay £15 per annum and for visitors a donation of £5 per talk is suggested with no payment expected from students.
Meetings are usually held on the second Tuesday of each month at Ealing Green Church at 7.30pm, with the exception of the November meeting which takes place at Twyford School at 6.30pm. Talks are live events but with the speaker’s permission the association aims to make a recording available afterwards to those registering on Eventbrite (the booking link will be available on the society's website one month in advance of each talk).
Programme to June 2025
13 May - Professor Rebecca Earle, University of Warwick, ‘What can you learn from a cookbook (other than how to cook)?’
10 June - Dr Ismini Pells, Oxford Department for Continuing Education, ‘Maimed Soldiers, War Widows and the Human Cost of the English Civil Wars: stories from the Civil War Petitions project’
For more details of the association’s programme of talks for the coming season visit its web site.
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