The Civil War Years: Canada and the United States

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McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1998 - History - 430 pages
While the Yankees and the Confederates fought a ruthless civil war in the United States, Britain and the northern states waged a "war in anticipation" as British North America waited and wondered whether the federal army of the United States would invade. Robin Winks's classic study is a dramatic examination of the impact of the American Civil War on Canada, especially on the movement toward Confederation. From the Chesapeake incident off the coast of Nova Scotia, through the St Albans Raid from Quebec into Vermont, to the reinforcing of garrisons across British North America in response to the Trent Affair, The Civil War Years ranges across the early Canadian landscape. It offers an in-depth survey of Canadian public opinion on the war, the role of Confederate sympathizers in Canada, and the number of Canadians enlisted in the armies of the North and South. The second edition includes a new introduction that provides an overview of Civil War studies since the book's original publication in 1960. The Civil War Years remains a valuable contribution to Canadian history, the history of Canadian-American and Anglo-American relations, and Civil War studies.

From inside the book

Contents

Introduction
1
Shifting Tides of Opinion
12
The Northern PolicyMakers
22
William H Seward as WouldBe Premier
33
Poisoning the Well
52
One War at a Time The Trent Affair
69
Interlude Petites Choses
104
Controlling the Border
131
Public Opinion in the British North America on the Civil War
206
The Second Chespeake Affair
244
Confederate Commissioners in British North America
264
Testing Canadian Neutrality The St Albans Raid and Its Aftermath
295
Days of Decision Confederation Reciprocity and Defense
337
Chosen by Angels
361
Toward Continental Security?
374
A Note on Sources
382

The British North American West and the Civil War
155
The British North American and the Norther Armies
178

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About the author (1998)

Robin W. Winks (1930-2003) was Randolph W. Townsend Professor of History and chair of the Department of History, Yale University.

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