The Die Is Cast - Paperback

by Mark K. Christ (Editor)

The Die Is Cast examines why a small frontier state like Arkansas would choose to sever its ties with the United States and join the southern Confederacy. Under the direction of editor Mark K. Christ, five historians examine the political and social forces that led to secession and transformed farmers, clerks, and shopkeepers into soldiers. Collectively, these essays provide an overview of the diverse passions that finally brought the people of Arkansas to war.

Front Jacket

Five writers examine the political and social forces in Arkansas that led to secession and transformed farmers, clerks, and shopkeepers into soldiers. Retired longtime Arkansas State University professor Michael Dougan delves into the 1861 Arkansas Secession Convention and the delegates' internal divisions on whether to leave the Union. Lisa Tendrich Frank, who teaches at Florida Atlantic University, discusses the role Southern women played in moving the state toward secession. Carl Moneyhon of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock looks at the factors that led peaceful civilians to join the army. Thomas A. DeBlack of Arkansas Tech University tells of the thousands of Arkansans who chose not to follow the Confederate banner in 1861, and William Garret Piston of Missouri State University chronicles the first combat experience of the green Arkansas troops at Wilson's Creek.

Author Biography

Mark K. Christ is community outreach director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is the editor of Ready, Booted, and Spurred: Arkansas in the U.S.-Mexican War (Butler Center Books).