West of Slavery

393 Pages·14.62 MB·English

by  Kevin Waite

 
West of Slavery
The David J. Weber Series in
the New Borderlands History
Andrew R. Graybill and Benjamin H. Johnson, editors
Editorial Board
Juliana Barr
Sarah Carter
Maurice Crandall
Kelly Lytle Hernández
Cynthia Radding
Samuel Truett
The study of borderlands—p laces where different peoples meet
and no one polity reigns supreme— is undergoing a renaissance.
The David J. Weber Series in the New Borderlands History pub-
lishes works from both established and emerging scholars that
examine borderlands from the precontact era to the present.
The series explores contested boundaries and the intercultural
dynamics surrounding them and includes projects covering a
wide range of time and space within North America and be-
yond, including both Atlantic and Pacific worlds.
Published with support provided by the William P. Clements
Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University
in Dallas, Texas.
 
West of
Slavery
e
The Southern Dream of
a Transcontinental Empire
Kevin Waite
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
© 2021 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by April Leidig
Set in Kepler by Copperline Book Services, Inc.
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member
of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Cover illustration by Diego Rios
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Waite, Kevin (Historian), author.
Title: West of slavery : the Southern dream of a
transcontinental empire / Kevin Waite.
Other titles: David J. Weber series in the new borderlands history.
Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2021] |
Series: The David J. Weber series in the new borderlands history |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020044309 | ISBN 9781469663180 (cloth ; alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781469663197 (paperback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469663203 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Slavery—Southwestern States—History—19th century. |
African Americans—Southwestern States—Social conditions—19th century. |
Indians of North America—Southwestern States—Social conditions—19th
century. | Peonage—Southwestern States—History—19th century. |
Southwestern States—Politics and government—19th century. | Southwestern
States—Relations—Southern States. | Southern States—Relations—
Southwestern States. | United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865.
Classification: LCC E449 .W155 2021 | DDC 306.3/62097909034—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044309
For Mom and Dad
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Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction
The Continental South 1
Part I
From Memphis to Canton
One
The Southern Dream of a Pacific Empire 13
Two
The Great Slavery Road 41
Three
The Lesser Slavery Road 63
Part II
Making the South Continental
Four
The Southernization of Antebellum California 91
Five
Slavery in the Desert South 123
Six
The Continental Crisis of the Union 149
Part III
War and Reunion
Seven
West of the Confederacy 181
Eight
Reconstruction and the Afterlife
of the Continental South 209
Epilogue
In the Shadow of the Confederacy 239
Notes 249
Bibliography 309
Index 353
Illustrations
Figures
White and black miners in El Dorado County, California 35
Camel caravan in Nevada 75
Butterfield stagecoach in San Francisco 86
Biddy Mason 101
Brigham Young Monument 128
Drum Barracks 187
“The Reconstruction Policy of Congress, as Illustrated in California” 222
Victims of the Los Angeles Chinese massacre of 1871 235
Confederate memorial, Hollywood Forever Cemetery 243
Maps
The Continental South xix
The Gadsden Purchase, 1853–1854 53
Routes of the Pacific Railroad Surveys, 1853–1854 55
The Butterfield Overland Mail Road, 1858–1861 79
The proposed division of California and New Mexico 156
The Confederate invasion of Arizona and New Mexico 192
Confederate monuments of California 244