The demon of unrest, p.65
The Demon of Unrest,
p.65
Mississippi’s secession declaration and, 191–92
Montgomery, Alabama, and, 216–17
opposition to, 39–40
proposed amendments regarding, 274, 275–76
Ruffin’s defense of, 70–71
Russell on, 345
secession and, 130
Seward’s speech opposing, 59–60
South Carolina College and, 33–34
South’s fear of abolition of, 92
strength of, 73
in Washington, 37, 297
whipping and, 36
smallpox, 112
Smith, Caleb, 327, 364
Smith, Dr., 370
Smith, G. W., 284
Smithson, Joseph, 39
Smithsonian Institution, 39, 54
Snyder, G. W., 379
Somnambulist and the Detective, The (Pinkerton), 242
sounding, 184, 187, 189
South Carolina
explanation of secession by, 129–30
Lowcountry versus Upcountry of, 63
secession and, 85–86, 98–99, 110–18
war preparations and, 219, 308–10, 314, 350
South Carolina College, 32–34, 85, 110
South Carolina Jockey Club, 113, 223–24
South-Carolinian, 51
Southern Times, 34, 35
Springfield Republican, 166
St. Andrews Hall, 113, 114–15, 224
St. Michael’s Church, 5, 26, 116
St. Philip’s Church, 26
Staggers, W. L., 217
Stanton, Edwin M.
Buchanan and, 154–56, 161
conspiracy to seize Washington and, 214
end of war and, 479–80
Treason Committee and, 193
Star of the West, 180–82, 184–91, 198, 202, 205, 316, 327
Stark, Theo, 370
“Star-Spangled Banner, The,” 487
starvation parties, 484
Stephens, Alexander H., 167, 197, 217
Stevens, Peter F., 316–17
Stockton, Emma, 484
Stone, Charles P., 248–49, 252
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 44–45, 46
Strong, George Templeton, 241–42, 270, 318
Sullivan’s Island, 22, 25, 315, 334
Summer White House, 77
Sumner, Charles, 383, 428
Sumter, Thomas, 4
Supreme Court
Confederate commissioners and, 337
Dred Scott decision and, 83–84, 299
Swain, James B., 374
T
Taber, William, 360
Talbot, Theodore, 200, 204, 207, 387, 395, 402, 411
Taney, Roger B., 83–84, 299
Taylor, Sarah Knox, 279
Taylor, Zachary, 279
telegraph
election results and, 17, 18
severing of, 263
Tennessee, secession and, 214, 468
Tennyson, 293
Tennyson, Alfred, 6
Texas, secession and, 268
Thackeray, William, 293–94
Thirteenth Amendment, proposed, 274, 275
Thomas, Lorenzo, 377–78, 385, 399–400, 409
Thomas, Philip F., 154, 209
Thomas Freeborn, 392
Thompson, Jacob, 154–55, 180, 181
Thompson, John
on Anderson’s move to Fort Sumter, 150
on battle, 427, 430, 438, 450–51
on Fort Sumter’s defenses, 160
on Fox’s ships, 434
Thornton, William, 37–38
thunder barrels, 323, 352
Ticonderoga, U.S.S., 333–34
Times of London, 293–94, 355, 482. See also Russell, William Howard
tobacco, 341–42
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 388
Toombs, Robert, 156–57, 318, 319, 338–39, 346, 406–7
Toucey, Isaac, 102, 154, 193
Travis, Susan (later Ruffin), 62, 64–65
Treason Committee, 193–94, 261
Trescot, William Henry, 98–99, 145, 153–54, 156, 360
Trollope, Anthony, 293
Trumbull, Lyman, 90–92, 123
Turner, Nat, 40
21st Regiment U.S. Colored Infantry, 480
Twiggs, David E., 268, 377
Tyler, John, 220, 283
U
Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball; Verdi), 247
Uncle Ben, 392, 396
Uncle Robin, in his Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in Boston, 45–46
Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Or Life Among the Lowly (Stowe), 44–45, 46, 293
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 125
U.S. Census, 5, 6, 7
U.S. Post Office, 117
V
vaccinations, against smallpox, 112
Van Wyck, Charles H., 261–62
Van Wyck, Robert, 261
VanderHorst family, 361
Verdi, Giuseppe, 247
Vermilion County Press, 284
Vesey, Denmark, 40
Vigilant Rifles, 116
Villard, Henry, 89–90, 166, 234, 240, 297
Virginia, secession and, 209, 213–14, 272, 292, 298, 389–90, 467, 468
vultures, 26
W
Walker, Leroy Pope
Beauregard and, 290–91, 309, 373, 389, 403, 406, 417, 418, 475
Confederate commissioners and, 320
Fort Sumter siege and, 8
prediction regarding outcome of war from, 476
Warden, Ethan, 311
Warne, Kate, 177, 178, 243, 246, 263–64
Washburne, Elihu, 122–23, 265
Washington
Chesnut in, 95–96
conspiracy to seize, 212, 221
description of, 38
slavery in, 37–38
Washington Constitution, 92
Washington Light Infantry, 116
Washington Monument, 54, 214
Webster, Timothy, 178
Weed, Thurlow, 18, 167, 373, 374
Weir, Robert Walter, 107
Welles, Gideon, 119, 266, 327, 364, 376, 391
wet ditch, 125
White House, 39
White Sulphur Springs, 76–78
Whiting, W.H.C., 309, 419–20
Whitman, Walt, 245–46, 481
Wigfall, Louis T., 145, 166, 170, 300, 380, 394, 411, 452–59
Wigfall, Mrs., 394, 447
Wild Scenes of the South, 70
Wiley, Leroy M., 228
Willard, Joseph and Henry, 267
Willard Hotel
Lincoln at, 265, 267–68, 272, 273, 275, 298
Peace Convention and, 214, 272, 273, 275
Russell and, 344, 423
Wilson, John Lyde, 13
Winyah Bay, 163
Withers, Thomas Jefferson, 33, 277–78, 330, 360–61
Witherspoon, John, 370
Woods, Charles R., 182, 184–85, 187, 189
Y
Yancey, William Lowndes, 78–79
Yankee, 392, 396
“Yankee Doodle,” 462
Young, William Gourdin, 404–5, 453–56, 457, 458–59
Young Men’s Secession Association (YMSA), 30
Z
Zouaves, 116
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Also by Erik Larson
The Splendid and the Vile
Dead Wake
In the Garden of Beasts
Thunderstruck
The Devil in the White City
Isaac’s Storm
Lethal Passage
The Naked Consumer
About the Author
Erik Larson is the author of six previous national bestsellers—The Splendid and the Vile, Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, The Devil in the White City, and Isaac’s Storm—which have collectively sold more than twelve million copies. His books have been published in nearly forty countries.
eriklarsonbooks.com
Twitter: @ExLarson
THE DEMON OF UNREST
Discussion Questions
Have you read other books on the Civil War? Did Erik Larson’s book make you think differently about it? If so, how?
Why was Fort Sumter so crucial to all parties? What did it symbolize before and after South Carolina seceded from the Union?
Why does President Buchanan seem blindsided by secession? Why were both sides provoked by his final speech to Congress? How did it help pave the way for South Carolina and others to leave the Union?
How do the events of 1860–61 parallel the present day?
In the introduction, Larson notes, “At the heart of the story is a mystery that still confounds: How on earth did South Carolina, a primitive, scantily populated state in economic decline, become the fulcrum for America’s greatest tragedy?” Does the book solve that mystery? What answers did you see?
Talk about the city of Charleston. How had it changed over the nineteenth century? What was at stake for “the chivalry,” the state of South Carolina, and the Confederacy by 1860?
The title of the book comes from a letter written in 1860 by Dennis Hart Mahan, in reference to the long reign of the planter class: “But when commerce, manufacturers, the mechanic arts disturbed this condition of things, and amassed wealth that could pretend to more lavish luxury than planting, then came in, I fear, this demon of unrest which has been the utmost sole disturber of the land for years past.” What does “this demon of unrest” describe?
What light does the book shed on Abraham Lincoln? Does it reinforce or change your view of him?
Mary Chesnut’s diary gives a woman’s perspective on the unfolding events. What did you learn and find most interesting about her character?
Why were Southern planters affronted by the abolitionist reports of—and novels like Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin about—plantation life? Why were they convinced that, in slavery, they had created an ideal society?
Examples throughout the book suggest that Northerners, including the likes of Abraham Lincoln, did not understand Southern society. What did they fail to consider in the lead-up to the start of the Civil War?
“Cotton is king” was a widely repeated phrase at the time. Why was the South so certain that the North would back down from ending slavery? What made them think the world would follow suit?
Discuss Major Robert Anderson. How do his actions resonate with his soldiers, his superiors, and the rest of the country? What do you, as a reader, think of them?
While Lincoln tried to reassure Southerners that he wouldn’t change the current slave-labor system, Senator William Seward stated unequivocally that a slave system and a free-labor system could not co-exist: “It means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation, or entirely a free-labor nation.” Why was this such a dangerous/brave/shocking thing to say? What does it reveal about the status quo of the day?
What was the public sentiment around Lincoln? What did his peers think about his political acumen? Why do you think Lincoln had his own doubts of his capacity to be president?
How much have the Democrat and Republican parties changed? What do the parties of 1860 look like when compared with those of today?
Discuss the concept of honor as it pertains to the players on each side. How does it inform their character? How does the South reconcile their concept of honor with the horrors of slavery?
To today’s reader, the Civil War seemed inevitable. Yet, at the time, people seemed to have little inkling of what was to come. Why did they think conflict would be brief, or unlikely to occur at all?
Talk about the campaign of disinformation that permeated 1860. What falsehoods endured? Is that similar to today?
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.
_146965140_
Erik Larson, The Demon of Unrest
