The Georgia in the Civil War Message Board

Re: secession county list-citizen vote
In Response To: Re: secession county list ()

Alan,

Your points are well taken. James M McPhersons excellent "Battle Cry of Freedom", Chapter Eight, discusses this subject at length, remarking "Divisions in the lower South occurred mainly over tactics and timing, not goals" (p. 235) . He also describes the three wings of the Co-operationists and their divergent views, including Conditional Unionists among them-no secession until an 'overt act' against southern rights (p.237).
He doesn't mention in this passage what I might call frank Unionists of the lower south's north, recognizable by subsequent anti-Confederate stance and action during the war (Winston co., Alabama and north Georgian history spring to mind).

The secession vote itself reveals something of a constituency, but a county breakdown is more informative of the local climate than the vote of their elected officials. While the link Mr Hodge kindly mentioned reveals the vote of the elected representatives (not sure how the useful transcription was derived) it was Georgian voters who chose them for the purpose. I'm interested in the poll vote and a verifiable breakdown of numbers in that election.

My effort is complicated by a perhaps inaccurate understanding that Co-operationist vote represented variant philosophy including a minority frank Unionist sentiment. As I understand it, Unionist philosophy wasn't entirely limited to hilly areas or small scale farmers, was sometimes an ardent aversion to the dissolution of a sacred union fought for by forebears, was sometimes a moral aversion to slavery, but often an effort to preserve it (by which mention I've come back full circle to the Conditional Unionists).

I'd like something more comprehensive to the entire state than that found in the north Georgia website (http://ngeorgia.com/history/secession.html) which is the closest to the kind of information I'm looking for -mounted for obvious reasons- but geographically limited to that region's breakdown by numbers of popular vote for "immediate secession" or "co-operationist" by county.
As I've mentioned, I'd like the numbers for Pulaski and Houston, in particular. I've been unsuccessful in finding that breakdown, even at the Georgia Archives website.

You comments on the accuracy or weaknesses in the above are welcomed, as are any leads you might provide!

Thanks again,
Cynthia

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