Mary Margaret Miller
October 17, 2006
The recent publication of When This Evil War is Over: The Civil War Correspondence of the Francis Family, edited by Dr. James P. Pate, brings light to the lives of six Alabama brothers serving in the Civil War between the years of 1860-1865.
Pate, Dean of the Advanced Education Center at The University of Mississippi-Tupelo, is a historian by trade with emphases in Native American and 18th- and 19th- century American history.
First introduced to the correspondence in 1977 by Francis family descendents Frank and Clara Martin, Pate suggested that they archive the collection of over 200 years of letters, photographs, and documents. Frank Martin was initially reluctant, but his wife felt the letters needed to be documented. After over a decade of communication with the Francis family, Pate was commissioned to compile a manuscript exploring the content and time of the correspondence.
“Clara Jackson Martin called me after her husband Frank’s death and offered the letters again,” said Pate. “I was working as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Southeastern Oklahoma State University when I began working on the Francis book manuscript. The Civil War letters really stood out.”
By 1998, Pate had a firm handle on the letters and began research on the family and Civil War history of Jacksonville, Calhoun County, Alabama. His research includes multiple interviews with Clara Jackson Martin, numerous hours working with U.S. Census data from the 19th century, exploration of original Confederate service records of the Francis family brothers, and examination of microfilm from Civil War-era Jacksonville Republican newspaper articles.
“I tried to focus on war and the family’s role in war,” said Pate. “Not just the six brothers, but other members as well. The collection included letters from every member of the family except one daughter-in-law. Even the seven year-old brother at home wrote notes.”
According to Pate, many collections of Civil War correspondence focus specifically on physical war or the relationship between husband and wife. However, the Francis family collection covers a much broader range of wartime issues, including insight into the role and voice of Civil War-era females.
“One of the themes you run across in all the brothers’ letters is the importance of educating the sisters and how valuable that education will be to them as adults,” said Pate. “In the midst of all the turmoil, there was stress on how important it was for women to get an education.”
The central voice of the work belongs to John, the fifth son of the Francis family, who became involved in the war through a militia company he joined at school. According to Pate, John was the true warrior of the family and the only brother to never write about what he wanted to do when the war was over. He is also the only brother to die in war.
Many letters strike tones we can relate to today, especially family matters,” said Pate.
When This Evil War is Over is available through The University of Alabama Press in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Visit their website at www.uapress.ua.edu. Pate is also the editor of The Reminiscences of George Strother Gaines.
