"Beyond Being a War for the Union, This is a War for Civilization": Nelson Dingley Jr.'s Emancipationist War on Slavery 1861-1863

Abstract

When the Civil War began in April 1861, the Union entered the conflict committed to suppressing secession and securing the republic. On the Maine home front, Nelson Dingley Jr., editor of the Lewiston Daily Evening Journal and Republican member of the state legislature, contended that this would require the adoption of measures to weaken slavery, from protecting and even arming runaway slaves to the emancipation of enslaved peoples. This article examines how Dingley championed emancipationist measures in the Journal during the early stages of the Civil War, situating his voice among fellow Mainers—clergy members, soldiers, elected officials—who likewise espoused the necessity of undermining slavery to preserve the Union. Eben Miller is a professor history at Southern Maine Community College, where he has taught since 2004. He is the author of Born along the Color Line: The 1933 Amenia Conference and the Rise of a National Civil Rights Movement (Oxford University Press, 2012).