Booknotes: Confederates from Canada

New Arrival:

• Confederates from Canada: John Yates Beall and the Rebel Raids on the Great Lakes by Ralph Lindeman (McFarland, 2023).

From the description: "Unable to achieve sustained military success in the Civil War, the Confederacy tried a daring strategy in 1864--commando-style raids into northern states from Canada. Taking advantage of the undefended border, rebels hit targets along the Great Lakes, where growing antiwar sentiment was an election-year problem for the Lincoln administration."

While providing a larger perspective on Confederate raiding operations based in Canada as well as the northern peace movement that they hoped to exploit, Ralph Lindeman's Confederates from Canada focuses on the activities of privateer John Yates Beall. Beall, whose Confederate army service was cut short by a serious wound, first turned to privateering along Potomac and Chesapeake waters. Captured there, he was later exchanged, only to transfer his maritime guerrilla activities to the Great Lakes.

In 1864, Beall hatched a daring, if impractical, plan to free Confederate prisoners held at Johnson's Island. The expedition failed, but Beall persisted in his goal of freeing Confederate officers held in the North. Near the end of 1864, he was arrested in New York state, where he planned to attack a train. That was the final straw for U.S. authorities, and Beall's unusual career finally ended in his trial and execution.

According to the description, Beall's Johnson's Island operation is "covered in detail for the first time" in the pages of this book. Lindeman reveals that Johnson's Island was actually a backup undertaken after the original intention to strike the August 1864 Democratic Party convention in Chicago fell through. The book also explores how Confederate raids from Canada strained diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Great Britain. Possible connections between Beall and John Wilkes Booth are examined as well.

Coincidentally, for those who can't get enough of the topic, in just a few days we'll also see the publication of a full Beall biography by William C. Harris. The abrupt 'publishing in twos' phenomenon strikes again.