Anna Dickinson - A Tour of Reconstruction: Travel Letters of 1875

NEW DIRECTIONS IN SOUTHERN HISTORY

Series editors
Peter S. Carmichael, Gettysburg College
Michele Gillespie, Wake Forest University
William A. Link, University of Florida

The Lost State of Franklin: Americas First Secession
Kevin T. Barksdale

Bluecoats and Tar Heels: Soldiers and Civilians in Reconstruction North Carolina
Mark L. Bradley

Becoming Bourgeois: Merchant Culture in the South, 18201865
Frank J. Byrne

Cowboy Conservatism: Texas and the Rise of the Modern Right
Sean P. Cunningham

A Tour of Reconstruction: Travel Letters of 1875
Anna Dickinson (J. Matthew Gallman, ed.)

Raising Racists: The Socialization of White Children in the Jim Crow South
Kristina DuRocher

Lum and Abner: Rural America and the Golden Age of Radio
Randal L. Hall

The New Southern University: Academic Freedom and Liberalism at UNC
Charles J. Holden

Entangled by White Supremacy: Reform in World War Iera South Carolina
Janet G. Hudson

Cultivating Race: The Expansion of Slavery in Georgia, 17501860
Watson W. Jennison

The View from the Ground: Experiences of Civil War Soldiers
edited by Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Reconstructing Appalachia: The Civil Wars Aftermath
edited by Andrew L. Slap

Blood in the Hills: A History of Violence in Appalachia
edited by Bruce E. Stewart

Moonshiners and Prohibitionists: The Battle over Alcohol in Southern Appalachia
Bruce E. Stewart

Southern Farmers and Their Stories: Memory and Meaning in Oral History
Melissa Walker

Law and Society in the South: A History of North Carolina Court Cases
John W. Wertheimer

A Tour of Reconstruction

Copyright 2011 by The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com

Frontispiece: Undated carte de visite of Anna Dickinson, copied from an original photograph by Napoleon Sarony, who ran a popular New York City studio. The portrait was probably made shortly after the Civil War. Unless otherwise noted, photographs are from J. Matthew Gallmans personal collection.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dickinson, Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth), 1842-1932.
A tour of Reconstruction : travel letters of 1875 / Anna Dickinson ; edited by J. Matthew Gallman.
p. cm. -- (New directions in southern history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8131-3424-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8131-3425-3 (ebook)
1. Dickinson, Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth), 1842-1932--Correspondence. 2.
Dickinson, Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth), 1842-1932TravelSouthern States. 3.
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)Sources. 4. Southern StatesSocial
conditions19th centurySources. 5. Southern StatesEconomic conditions19th
centurySources. I. Gallman, J. Matthew (James Matthew) II. Title.

E668.D547 2011

975.04--dc23 2011024138

This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Member of the Association of American University Presses

This project has been somewhere in the back of my mind since I first read Dickinsons 1875 letters while preparing a biographical study of her life. At that time, I prepared a rough transcription of these letters to use in my own research. Even then, I thought they would make a wonderful book and a valuable teaching tool.

The problem was that among Anna Dickinsons many virtues, good penmanship was sadly absent. For many years, the book sat on the back burner. Periodically, when fate or good fortune presented me with a research assistant, I would set my researcher to work transcribing the letters (or improving upon the previous effort). Thanks to Christina Ericson Hansen, Holly Fisher, Angela Diaz, and Jennifer Lyon, who each took a crack at unraveling Dickinsons handwriting. Jennifer also made the first pass at writing the endnotes. Needless to say, I made all the final calls on the transcription and notes.

As I was preparing the manuscript for publication, many colleagues offered support and good advice. Thanks to Meredith Babb for providing valuable encouragement at the early stages of the project. Michael Fitzgerald offered some wise counsel on Reconstruction. Michele Gillespie and the two anonymous readers for the University Press of Kentucky helped shape the introduction and the explanatory notes. Michele and her fellow series editors, Bill Link and Pete Carmichaelthree of the best in the businessgave this project their stamp of approval and helped steer it through the publication process. Anne Dean Watkins and her colleagues at the University Press of Kentucky have been wonderful, and far more organized and professional than their too-harried author/editor.

Anna Dickinsons 1875 route (Dick Gilbreath, University of Kentucky Cartography Lab)

These are the places Dickinson visited and spent each night during her tour in 1875. She lectured in nearly every location.