Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
Volume 108 / Number 4
ABSTRACT:
"The Grave and Scandalous Evil Infected to Your People": The Erosion of Confederate Loyalty in Floyd County, Virginia
- By Rand Dotson, pp. 393–434
This study focuses on the processes that prompted residents of Floyd County, Virginia, to turn against the
Confederacy after initially endorsing secession and enthusiastically supporting the southern war effort. It also
analyzes the reasons why numerous soldiers from the county deserted their regiments as well as why hundreds
of residents joined the Heroes of America (HOA), a secret Unionist society. Historians of Virginia's Civil War
homefront, including those who have focused exclusively on the southwestern portion of the state, typically
cite class resentment over slavery and war weariness as the principal circumstances responsible for these loyalty
transitions. In Floyd County, however, the connection between Confederate deserters and their kin led to
disillusionment with the Confederacy: inadequate support of soldiers' families led to desertion; persecution
of deserters' kin led to "disloyalty"; and the disaffection of deserters' relatives, which rose by degrees throughout
the conflict, allowed the county’s minority of Unionists to vie for political control of the district. This essay suggests
that throughout the war Floyd County residents mediated decisions about loyalty using their concern for kin as a litmus.
In 1861, they decided to support the new southern government because it appealed to their sense of familial duty -
it offered protection from hostile outsiders and promised to maintain traditional social, economic, and race relations
. Later, when the Confederacy demanded the betrayal of deserters by their relatives, many residents withdrew their
support and looked elsewhere for means to safeguard their families. Some decided to support dissident politicians
or joined the HOA; others enlisted in Unionist militias or did what they could to impede the southern war effort. This
article argues that whatever the case, commitment to family guided the choices they made.
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