State of the Union: New York and the Civil War

Three years ago, in celebration of the publication of The Union Preserved: A Guide to the Civil War Records in the New York State Archives, the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, a program of the New York State Education Department, held a two-day symposium featuring research by leading scholars on New York's role in the Civil War. The symposium brought together a broad spectrum of attendees from the Lincoln Forum, Civil War re-enactors, Civil War Roundtable members, students, local historians, educators, and history enthusiasts.

As the most populous state at the time of the Civil War, New York was central to winning the war. The state not only provided the most men and materiel, but was also the North's economic center as well as an important center of political and social activism. Inhabited by increasing numbers of immigrant groups, abolitionists, and an emerging free black community, New York's social and political environment was a microcosm of the larger social and political conflict being played out in the war. The symposium addressed these tensions by examining the role of women, blacks, Native Americans, and European immigrant groups in New York, particularly the various perspectives held by members of each group regarding the war effort.

The symposium examined the difficulties Abraham Lincoln faced in keeping New York favorable to his policies. It revealed the tremendous sacrifice New York made in the military campaign, as well as the treatment of Confederate soldiers at New York's Elmira Prison Camp. The State of the Union is a compilation of the papers presented at the symposium.

The essays included in the volume:

Housekeeping on Its Own Terms: Abraham Lincoln in New York, by Harold Holzer
The Volcano Under the City: The Significance of Draft Rioting in New York City and State, July 1863, by Iver Bernstein
What's Gender Got to Do With It? New York in the Age of the Civil War, by Lillian Serece Williams
In the Shadow of American Indian Removal: The Iroquois in the Civil War, by Laurance M. Hauptman
Above the Law: Abitrary Arrest, Habeas Corpus, and the Freedom of the Press in New York, by Joseph M. Bellacosa and Frank J. Williams
New York's "Andersonville: " The Elmira Military Prison, by Lonnie R. Speer
The Continuing Conflict: New York and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, by Hans Trefousse

Harold Holzer, Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is one of the nation’s leading authorities on Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. He served as co-chairman of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and has written, co-written, or edited 35 books.