82 pages • 2 hours read
Erik LarsonThe Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Problem of Loyalty Amid Civil Conflict
The United States had never faced a clash quite like the one that began with the events at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. While wars and militarism were familiar to many of the central participants in The Demon of Unrest—several were veterans of the Mexican-American War and other conflicts—the secession crisis for the first time turned Americans against Americans in a violent outburst that would eventually take hundreds of thousands of lives. People from both the North and South felt deep loyalty to many things: Their families, comrades, states, and countries. By focusing on how those different loyalties can conflict with one another, Erik Larson explores the problem of loyalty when faced with Civil War.
In previous wars, loyalties aligned. Military figures like Major Anderson, Captain Doubleday, and Robert E. Lee knew which side to fight for, since they could remain loyal to their families, states, and countries all at once. In 1860 and 1861, however, things were different. As the tension over enslavement escalated into secession and the budding formation of a new country—the Confederacy—people had to choose which of their loyalties mattered to them the most, with the understanding that they might have to fight and kill their friends and neighbors on the other side.
The choices of Major Anderson and Robert E. Lee show the impossible problem that secession and civil conflict represent. Anderson was from Kentucky and sympathized with the Southerners, but his loyalty remained with his country and the army where he had spent his career. This difficult choice put him at odds with many of his fellows, such as his former West Point student P. G. T. Beauregard—the Confederacy’s Charleston commander. The two men considered each other friends, but their divided loyalties meant that they had to view each other as enemies.
Robert E. Lee, like so many others, had to make a similar choice: state or country. Lee practiced enslavement and was considered to be America’s best officer, but he could not bear the idea of fighting against his beloved home state of Virginia. When Virginia seceded, Lee felt it was his duty to join the Confederacy and fight against his former comrades in the US Army, even though he didn’t ascribe to the Confederacy’s secessionist beliefs. Larson’s recounting of these tough decisions, combined with the massive violence of the Civil War, gets to the heart of the conflict’s tragedy, showing how civil conflict can put even the most loyal people to an unsolvable test.
The Human Stories Behind Historic Events
The Demon of Unrest encompasses some of the most momentous events and figures from American history, from the origins of the Civil War to the election and inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln. What sets Larson’s book apart from other historical accounts, however, is his focus on the quotidian lives of everyday people living through those famous events and beside those famous figures. In his careful recounting of the day-to-day existence of 1860s America, Larson emphasizes the importance of real, ordinary people trying to live their lives against whatever backdrop history provides for them.
While the book includes numerous historical figures from this period—Lincoln, Davis, Lee, etc.—Larson at times ignores them to instead focus on the daily life of Mary Chesnut, a member of the South Carolina elite whose actions did not directly impact the historical events surrounding her. In doing so, Larson provides interested history readers with insight into what living in 1860 was like. More importantly, he accurately portrays the perspectives of people at the time on hot button issues like enslavement, secession, and the presidential election. Mary’s views aren’t cluttered by foresight into the Civil War or more than a hundred years of separation; they provide direct access into how people like her thought while these events were unfolding. The recounting of Mary’s mundane activities also creates a connection between her life and modern life despite her practice of enslavement.
Larson’s descriptions of famous figures are also strung through with stories that bring them down to earth. The often-mythologized Lincoln, for example, suffers the embarrassment of sneaking into his own inauguration, and later he makes the simple—though impactful—mistake of accidentally commanding the same warship to go on two different expeditions at the same time. Other political figures, like William Seward, are shown wrestling with issues that they sometime misinterpret despite their best efforts, such as when Seward stubbornly believes that civil war can be avoided despite the escalating tensions between north and south. The insights of the British journalist William Russell also reveal how an outsider experienced the build-up to the conflict, with Russell interviewing both top political figures and ordinary Americans alike.
These human stories make clear that historical figures, even presidents, are still just people, each fallible in their own ways. Instead of making history seem intangible and predetermined, these everyday moments show that even grand events have humble origins, and that history is closer to us than we might think.
The Challenging Nature of Honor
The men and women of The Demon of Unrest take honor seriously. Some, like Major Anderson, would have given their lives in honorable service to their country, while others, like the Southern planters James Hammond and Edmund Ruffin, called for war and secession when they thought their honor was under theat. By demonstrating how important honor was to these people, and then tracing the consequences of their conduct, Larson makes clear that honor can be a great virtue, but also lead to negative consequences when valued too highly.
The conduct between federal and South Carolina forces in Charleston Harbor exemplified the value both sides put on honor. Even as tensions escalated between Major Anderson’s garrison and the state’s militia, the two groups continued to demonstrate respect and consideration for each other. For example, Anderson and the South Carolina leaders often exchanged polite letters with one another, and Anderson cordially received state emissaries to discuss the standoff at Fort Sumter. Viewing it as the chivalrous thing to do, the state forces offered to send Anderson’s men additional food, though Anderson refused since he felt accepting food from an enemy would violate his honor. This honorable conduct continued even after the battle, with the Confederates allowing Anderson’s men to depart safely and with their pride intact. The mutual honor and respect between the two sides led to several beneficial outcomes, ensuring that innocent people were out of harm’s way and that blood was not shed unnecessarily.
While at Fort Sumter honor helped improve a dire situation, elsewhere Larson demonstrates how overly inflated senses of honor led to terrible results. The Southern planters were so invested in personal honor that they reacted with extreme measures when they felt anyone impugned that honor. They took attacks against the practice of enslavement—such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin—as personal affronts. This “almost cult-like sense of honor” (188) made the planters unwilling to compromise, contributing to their rush toward secession and, eventually, civil war. Similarly, William Seward’s view that it was a dishonor to serve as Lincoln’s Secretary of State—since he believed he should have been president instead—at times threatened to compromise his effectiveness as an advisor.
Lincoln’s secret travel through Baltimore on the way to his inauguration suggests that he—unlike the Southern planters—was able to balance his personal honor with greater demands. Though some criticized him for his dishonorable and indecorous method of sneaking into Washington, Lincoln realized that his own honor was far less important than getting into office and taking charge of the secession crisis. For Lincoln, honor was important, but the needs of the country came first.
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