Confederate Phoenix Rebel Children and Their Families in South Carolina Edmund L. Drago $45.00 ISBN: 9780823229376 Book (Hardcover) Fordham University Press 224 pages 8 black and white illustrations October 2008 Quantity:

“A richly researched study of the war’s impact on children in the heart of the Confederacy.” —Steven Mintz, University of Houston, author of Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood “Confederate Phoenix provides a realistic, unvarnished, and dramatic view of the South Carolina experience during the Civil War. Written in clear, supple prose, this book contains exceptionally rich material on childhood and the War’s impact on all civilians. It is a must-read for all historians of the family and the War in the South.” —Joan Cashin, The Ohio State University “Edmund Drago explores in impressive detail the experiences of the children and youth of South Carolina and their families during the Civil War. . . . Like the best histories of children and youth, Confederate Phoenix transcends the Confederate battlefield and home front by following the child participants in South Carolina’s greatest crisis into their adult lives.”—James Marten, Marquette University "Explores the impact of war and defeat on white children in what was considered the most militant Confederate state."—The Chronicle of Higher Education In this innovative book, Edmund L. Drago tells the first full story of white children and their families in the most militant Southern state, and the state where the Civil War erupted. Drawing on a rich array of sources, many of them formerly untapped, Drago shows how the War transformed the domestic world of the white South. Households were devastated by disease, death, and deprivation. Young people took up arms like adults, often with tragic results. Thousands of fathers and brothers died in battle; many returned home with grave physical and psychological wounds. Widows and orphans often had to fend for themselves. From the first volley at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor to the end of Reconstruction, Drago explores the extraordinary impact of war and defeat on the South Carolina home front. He covers a broad spectrum, from the effect of “boy soldiers” on the ideals of childhood and child rearing to changes in education, marriage customs, and community as well as family life. He surveys the children’s literature of the era and explores the changing dimensions of Confederate patriarchal society. By studying the implications of the War and its legacy in cultural memory, Drago unveils the conflicting perspectives of South Carolina children—white and black—today. EDMUND L. DRAGO is Professor of History at the College of Charleston. His most recent book is Charleston’s Avery Center: From Education to Preserving the African American Experience.

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