As many readers of this blog are aware, the New York Times has
established a blog, Disunion, exploring various aspects of the
Civil War as part of the sesquicentennial. The articles often
look at events exactly or almost exactly 150 years ago from the
date of publication. “Disunion follows the Civil War as it
unfolded,” as the blog describes itself. Today’s Disunion,
written by Lois Leveen, entitled “The North of the South”
examines Richmond, Virginia, as it existed in early 1861. While
this city would soon become the capital of the Confederacy, in
January 1861 it was still a bastion of Unionism and would remain
so until Lincoln’s call for volunteers in April 1861 tipped the
balance in favor of secession. Leveen, in particular,
concentrates on the African-American community of 1861 Richmond,
where one in five of the city’s black population was free and
even many slaves lived independently of their owners hiring out
their own labor. Leveen’s piece highlights that in Upper South
states like Virginia, and even m