Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Brand of Infamy: A Biography of John Buchanan Floyd

Brand of Infamy: A Biography of John Buchanan Floyd

Pinnegar, Charles

Hardcover

Series: Contributions in American History, Book 194

Biographies GeneralCivil War Period (1850-1877)General Military History

ISBN10: 0313321337
ISBN13: 9780313321337
Publisher: Praeger
Published: Jan 30 2002
Pages: 256
Weight: 1.27
Height: 0.98 Width: 6.28 Depth: 9.42
Language: English

Historians have labeled John Buchanan Floyd a traitor and a coward for his actions during the Civil War, and this view has persisted largely unchallenged. This study reopens the case of this reform-minded Virginia governor and one-time Secretary of War to examine all aspects of Floyd's career. Pinnegar contends that partisan congressional investigations and wild newspaper claims branded Floyd as a traitor to the Union, and that the historical profession's tendency to focus solely on his connections to the Civil War era have ensured that Floyd's reputation was never leavened by the successes of his first fifty years. Pinnegar hopes to demonstrate that charges of malfeasance in office were exaggerated, while prevailing administrative routines were ignored, tactics that result in an unfair portrait of Floyd.

Although he was a Unionist, Floyd did consider secession a viable option given the right conditions. This view earned him the label of the most hated southerner in the North. Most of Floyd's personal papers were destroyed in a Union cavalry raid in 1864, making a complete reassessment of his reputation difficult. Pinnegar places Floyd's life in context, explaining the circumstances surrounding the scandals during his years as Secretary of War and chronicling the hardships, successes, and failures of his army command. While Floyd was certainly no saint, this challenge to accepted dogma looks beyond the labels to take the reader closer to the real Floyd.

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