New Bedford's Civil War

New Bedford's Civil War. Earl F. Mulderink III. New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2012. 306 pages. $55.00 (hardcover).New Bedford, Massachusetts was considered to be the "richest city in America" in the decades before the Civil War by contemporary observers, as well as one of the most socially progressive. Merchants rich from the oil of the sperm whale walked the same streets as scores of freed slaves from the American South in what was surely one of the most diverse cities in America. Racial attitudes among residents of the town, though hardly ideal, were leaps and bounds beyond much of the rest of the country, and competition for economic opportunity was relatively just. However, the events of the Civil War would create significant repercussions for the city, and postbellum New Bedford would struggle to recapture the economic bounty that had graced the city in the years before the war ripped the country apart.Earl F. Mulderink, III has written an ambitious volume that carefully utilizes an impressive array of primary and secondary source material, backed by a wealth of quantitative data that renders the work a true social history. Mulderink's work is ambitious, as he seeks to analyze the economic, social, and political consequences that the Civil War field for New Bedford. His work is primarily focused on the repercussions that the war held for the social fabric of the city itself, and as such, those seeking an in-depth military history should look elsewhere. Mulderink does incorporate the history of the conflict indirectly throughout his work, namely through examination of recruitment efforts of white and black troops within the city, but his interest in the war is chiefly focused on the experiences of the city's African-American soldiers.The African-American experience in New Bedford is one of Mulderink's main areas of focus, and he ably backs his argument that while the city offered something of a haven to free blacks, economic opportunities for AfricanAmericans were hardly ideal, especially given competition with immigrants. However, Mulderink notes that New Bedford did have a larger percentage of black artisans than any other northern city, so chances for gainful, skilled employment did indeed exist for African-Americans. Furthermore, he vividly describes the abolitionist fervor that gripped much of Massachusetts in the decades leading up to the war, with free blacks in New Bedford playing a key role. African-Americans in the antebellum years were respected members of the larger population of the city who simultaneously built their own independent community comprised of powerful social ties.Once the war began and African-Americans were finally permitted to enlist in 1863, free black men of New Bedford proudly enlisted by the dozen in racially segregated units, including the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts regiment. Undoubtedly the most famous regiment of African-American troops from the war, especially after its immortalization by Hollywood in 1989's Glory, the unit would cover itself in glory during its years of service. Its bestknown enlisted man was New Bedford's own Sergeant William H. Carney, who despite grievous wounds at Fort Wagner in 1863, never allowed the American flag that he was carrying to touch the ground. For his valor, Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor, but his post-war role would be indicative of the nation's problems with the racial legacy of the war.Mulderink utilizes the work of David Blight to build the framework for his analysis of New Bedford's post-war racial politics. Blight contends that white veterans from both sides managed to agree on a reconciliationist memory of the war that focused on their mutual heroism, rather than acknowledging the true emancipationist memory of the conflict, which had the additional side effect of marginalizing black veterans. …