Reconstruct Vs. Restore

Deconstructing Reconstruction 

January 16th, MLK Day, 2022. Seems the right time to dwell on the effects of Reconstruction and my writing. Those of you who follow my writing know that the Snakebit series encompasses both the American Civil War (ACW) and the confusingly optimistic period that followed, what we now call, Reconstruction.

Well, my first nine books covering the ACW are finished. As I’ve told my wife, I vicariously lived the lives of my characters as they struggled through the horrors of Civil War. Having studied the war for years, I visited many of its historic sites and collected an impressive library on the topic. I felt I understood it. I was comfortable. But by the end of book #9 I have written the war out of the picture. The war is over. I Now embark on a journey into a period I do not fully understand - the unknown. What will my characters do during Reconstruction? Where will they go?  

When I embarked on this writing journey, I entered the ACW undaunted. I understood the ACW. I studied the war extensively. Now, here I am in book #10, the war is over, and Reconstruction begins. Honestly, dear readers, this period has been the objective all along yet now that I am here, I am perplexed. I am unfamiliar with the period of Reconstruction as I suspect many of you are. This is what has driven me on, to discover and to share with you, my discoveries. 

When I taught the ACW in high school, I stumbled on aspects of “Reconstruction” of which I was completely unaware. I daresay most Americans are as ignorant as I regarding this period of our history. As I write this, I hear the strains of “We Shall Overcome!” from the television in the background. It is a century and a half reminder that reconstruction as envisioned by 19th century Republicans shriveled and died on the vine. 

Is it not amazing that more than a century and a half after the end of the ACW and the abolition of slavery that voting inequality, job, salary, and justice equality are still uncomfortable matters of discussion?  

Let’s return for a moment to the term “Reconstruction.” It was a radical Republican term meant to describe the reclassification of the black man in the south. At its inception, President Johnson championed a different outcome in the south something called "Restoration.” As a grade schooler I thought Reconstruction meant rebuilding. It actually meant bringing about a new social order, one abandoned by short-sighted politicians and the bitter obstruction of entrenched racists and the rise of intolerant regional organizations like the Klan and similar groups.  

Reconstruction, however was more than this, for this historical period saw a flood of veterans and immigrants heading west. remember the phrases “Go West young man” and “Manifest Destiny?” The transcontinental railroad encouraged a flood of settlers into the West, igniting the Indian Wars. This, all of this, encompassed the period called Reconstruction. It is this sea of the known and unknown into which I dive and try to tread water. I am both intrigued and I am terrified.  

I hope you, dear readers, bear me up on this terrifying journey into the known and the unknown.