I recently interviewed Earnest A. Dollar Jr. about his book, Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War’s Final Campaign in North Carolina. This thoughtful book offers a counterpoint to Kenneth L. Lyftogt’s long-awaited Iowa and the Civil War, Volume 3: The Longest Year.
How did you become interested in the Civil War?
As a child, I was always aware of the Civil War. But when I discovered Ken Burns’s Civil War documentary and living history during my final year of college, I became deeply interested in the war and trying to understand the experience of soldiers.
When you were younger, what books made you want to read (or write)?
The first book I ever read was a children’s version of The Odyssey. It was my introduction to history, especially military history. I also read John Keegan’s Opening Moves: August 1914 and Capt. Ted Lawson’s popular book, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.
Every story has a backstory. How did come to write this book?
The Civil War ended in my backyard. This fact — and my family connection — fueled my passion to explore the period. I discovered a rich, untold story of a community deeply shaped by war and its aftermath. In 2000, I began to synthesize diaries, letters, and information into a narrative. I wanted to differentiate my book from Mark Bradley’s three books on the final campaign and aftermath in North Carolina.
At the same time, a friend and I were writing a screen play about veterans. I discovered that many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans expressed the same emotions and feelings as Civil War soldiers. A light bulb went off, and a thesis was born.
Does Hearts Torn Asunder follow in the footsteps of a particular historian?
Mark Bradley, Joseph T. Glatthaar, and Bert Dunkerly were my guiding stars on the Carolina Campaign. Eric Dean, Diane Sommerfield, and David Silkenet explored the psychological state of soldiers. They greatly influenced my work.
What is the most surprising thing you learned in writing this book?
Upon rereading my original sources, I was shocked to discover how much I had missed regarding how people felt and expressed themselves. Their observations and accounts wove a horrific tapestry of the impact of war.
What have you learned about the human condition?
History defines the human experience, showing connections that men and women share across time. Emotions such as love, hate, wonder, sadness, and fear, are quintessential to being human. War elicits similar emotions and causes psychological damage, regardless of the era.
How did your service in the Army Reserve and National Guard inform your research and writing?
I had always wanted to be a soldier. When I experienced the transformation from civilian to soldier, I could better understand the extreme stress that soldiers endure. In particular, I learned how the brain changes during military service. I also finally understand the deep bond between soldiers as they dealt with stress.
Beyond this, Civil War re-enacting was also helpful. Exposure to heat, hunger, and cold, and exhaustion gave me insight into diaries and letters from the 1860s.
You state: “Officials in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Wisconsin believed 50-90 percent of their incarcerated population to be former Union soldiers.” Are those percentages higher than one might expect for a post-Civil War prison population?
Those shocking estimates began to seem plausible after I read Brian Jordan’s Marching Home and James Martin’s Sing Not War. Both books address the problems facing 2.75 million veterans who returned to civilian life. Many of them had experienced extreme trauma, which reshaped soldiers’ morality into a form that could not, and did not, fit back into the civilian world. Sherman’s veterans, in particular, were thought to possess a heightened potential for criminal behavior.
You give several examples of Union officers unable (or unwilling) to prevent their troops from looting civilians’ homes and businesses, committing arson, intimidating, and in some cases, raping or murdering civilians. In contrast, General John “Black Jack” Logan threatened to unleash cannons filled with double canister on a murderous mob of more than 2,000 men. (Those men intended to burn Raleigh after Lincoln’s assassination.) What accounted for Logan’s markedly different behavior?
John Logan had a painfully clear understanding of what his men were capable of doing. His soldiers were the first to enter Columbia, South, Carolina. He lost control of them, and they caused a booze-fueled firestorm. The destruction of the city surprised Logan, Sherman, and other commanders.
By the time Sherman’s army reached Raleigh, they could glimpse an armistice, signaling the end of war. Logan and others must have looked to the future and understood how difficult post-war reunification would be, especially after they had unleashed war on the civilian South. Burning Raleigh would make reunification even harder.
When Booth assassinated Lincoln, Union troops threatened to burn Raleigh. Logan told his men that destroying Raleigh would tarnish the army’s victorious reputation. But the mob dispersed only after Logan threatened to fire on his men.
How did so many Confederate generals manage to obtain such seemingly inflated promotions by the end of the war?
There are several instances when Confederates realized the war was lost and prepared for what came next. Promotions came fast in the war’s final months by Southerners who felt a high rank would equate to prestige in its aftermath.
What is your current project, and how far advanced is it?
I’ve been studying how war swept up men in Central North Carolina in 1861 and how they readjusted to life in 1865. A focus is Company I, 6th North Carolina State Troops. Hopefully, I’ll wrap wrap up an initial manuscript this year.
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Bio:
Durham, North Carolina native Ernest A. Dollar Jr. graduated from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro with B.A. in History and B.F.A. in Design in 1993 and M.A. in Public History from North Carolina State in 2006. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve/North Carolina National Guard from 1993-1999. He currently serves as the director of the City of Raleigh Museum and Dr. M. T. Pope House Museum.
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Michael Priest
18 Oct 2022Having discovered the site at 1 AM, I eagerly await my return to it, but more eagerly await my return to sleep. I will “see you ” another day.
David Connon
18 Oct 2022Thank you, Michael, for visiting my website.
Kathleen Parsons
18 Oct 2022Thank you for an illuminating account of post-war behaviour by conscripts. In the Vietnam War, all returning Army troops were dropped off on an island in Hawaii and told to not break any major laws, then picked up after 2 weeks. That probably saved a lot of the heinous behaviour witnessed after the Civil War and more recent conflicts. The author has his own interesting personal journey, and I would not have discovered it without your superb interview.
David Connon
18 Oct 2022Hi, Kathleen. Thank you for your kind comments.
Ron Calef
20 Oct 2022Ms Parsons comment is incorrect. My brother served in nam as did others I know. They were not dropped off on some island for 2 weeks. This is a load of bs.
David Connon
20 Oct 2022Thank you, Mr. Calef, for weighing in.
George Slaton
18 Oct 2022Thanks for this review! Now I’m eager to read the book.
David Connon
18 Oct 2022George, I’m glad you found it interesting.
Ron Nurmi
18 Oct 2022Very interesting article!!! I posted it on our Facebook page.
David Connon
18 Oct 2022Thank you, Ron!
Larry Richard
19 Oct 2022Although I don’t have time to understand all about the Civil War on my own, I have an increasing curiosity and I really appreciate reading your research and reviews. Thank you for the work you put in on this.
David Connon
19 Oct 2022Thank you, Larry, for your kind words. I hope you and Nancy are doing well.