The Jackson County War: Reconstruction and Resistance in Post-Civil War Florida

Daniel Weinfeld's on-the-ground history of Florida's worst Reconstruction conflict lays out in meticulous, careful detail who murdered whom, who was drunk when they did it, and which murderers profited handsomely in both political power and wealth. Here's a hint: It generally wasn't the carpetbaggers or their gullible and rapacious Negroes, who were neither gullible nor rapacious.This knowledge matters. Call up Gone with the Wind tonight on HD streaming video, and you'll learn from the narrator about the tyranny and corruption of Carpetbag Rule - a horror far worse than the Civil War itself, the viewer is told. The lies and failures and rewarded assassinations of Reconstruction haunt us today in ways we often don't recognize. As a country, we still fight over the 14th amendment while hardly understanding its origins and context.To his credit, Weinfeld resists the urge to anger that any honest person should feel upon reading this book and then reflecting on how the story of Reconstruction's overthrow was laundered throughout most of the popular history that followed. He's not writing to judge national memory. He's writing to add to it. And he's provided an invaluable service.Dozens of people, mostly blacks and high-ranking white Republicans, died in two years of Reconstruction-era fighting in Jackson County, an agricultural hub near the Alabama border.Weinfeld's research animates the factions in The Jackson County War. It reproduces Freedman Bureau records of the doomed white Republicans, many of whom ended up dead at the hands of the drunken, sullen children of the shattered local aristocracy, who were cheered on by the local press. And it recounts the black Republicans who voted in huge numbers to take a role in governing themselves and their new country. And who fought a steadily losing battle to keep that role and their lives.Weinfeld writes with moral nuance and dispassion about the often violent and tragic collisions of these men and women. His creates honest portraits of real people, full of ideals, ambition, corruption, and corrosive anger. Carpetbag rule as a trope is a lie. But Carpetbag occupation, enabled by black votes and white Democratic restrictions, was an unavoidable provocation that could only exist with the help of force.Perhaps above all, The Jackson County War is a story of the defeat of a military occupation. It ought to be mandatory reading for anyone fighting a counterinsurgency. Born of spite, nourished on success, the Jackson County insurgency was led by thugs who became respectable pillars of their community for decades to come. Yet, it was often derailed temporarily by even the small handful of soldiers who came in and out of Marianna and Jackson County. As soon as they left, the insurgency would start again.Ultimately the United States federal government did not have the means and will to enforce the ideals of the Radical Republicans. And the Jackson County War makes clear that if you bring revolution to a place that doesn't want it, you better be prepared to enforce it with power, blood, and patience. Everything else is abstraction.

Daniel R. Weinfeld’s book, "The Jackson County War: Reconstruction and Resistance in Post-Civil War Florida," is that rare historical monograph that combines an important subject, solid research, and a gripping narrative. It is an excellent contribution to the historical literature as a case study of the fight between Klan and Radical Republicans during Reconstruction. It is also the story of the conflicting motives of individuals, white and black, Southern and Northern, written with an ear for drama rare ad refreshing in a work of history. The book enriched my knowledge of the greater issues of Reconstruction while capturing my interest with a well-told story. I would recommend it to students of Reconstruction, those interested in the history of post-Civil War Florida, and readers who like old-fashioned history written with a sense of drama.

Well researched and written. This account of post-Civil War Reconstruction was critically important as annotated from local perspectives. It was also authentic as one of the diaries used to research the book was from my relative JQ Dickinson, whose grave I have visited in Vermont. His murder and the terrorism that was created during this time as a presage to a Century of Jim Crow Recounts how political assassinations can so profoundly effect the fabric of history.

The book was a gift so it is important that is was in good shape when delivered.

Not particularly believable. Author seems to have an agenda.