Study Questions
1. How did William Wheeler justify suppression of the South in the Civil War? What did he believe he was fighting for?
2. What were Wheeler’s attitudes toward the following: the Union, army life, battle, the enemy, southern civilians, and home?
3. Describe Charles Colcock Jones Jr.’s attitude toward slaves. In what ways did he display warmth toward the blacks, and in what ways did he exhibit sternness? How did he explain the slave reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation?
4. How do you imagine that the Joneses treated their slaves? Would they have considered Thomas Foster a good master?
5. What were Jones’s attitudes toward these: the North, the South, secession, and the Emancipation Proclamation?
6. Compare the views of Charles Colcock Jones Jr. and William Lloyd Garrison on slavery. How is it possible for two people to have such different views on the same institution?
7. What connections did Jones and Wheeler make between their cause and God?
8. What were the main similarities and differences between Jones and Wheeler?
9. What really divided Wheeler and Jones? Had their cultures made them completely different kinds of people? Or did the war create an artificial and impermanent hostility between them?
10. Would you describe either Wheeler or Jones as an “extremist”? What role did extremism play in the Civil War?
1. How did William Wheeler justify suppression of the South in the Civil War? What did he believe he was fighting for?
2. What were Wheeler’s attitudes toward the following: the Union, army life, battle, the enemy, southern civilians, and home?
3. Describe Charles Colcock Jones Jr.’s attitude toward slaves. In what ways did he display warmth toward the blacks, and in what ways did he exhibit sternness? How did he explain the slave reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation?
4. How do you imagine that the Joneses treated their slaves? Would they have considered Thomas Foster a good master?
5. What were Jones’s attitudes toward these: the North, the South, secession, and the Emancipation Proclamation?
6. Compare the views of Charles Colcock Jones Jr. and William Lloyd Garrison on slavery. How is it possible for two people to have such different views on the same institution?
7. What connections did Jones and Wheeler make between their cause and God?
8. What were the main similarities and differences between Jones and Wheeler?
9. What really divided Wheeler and Jones? Had their cultures made them completely different kinds of people? Or did the war create an artificial and impermanent hostility between them?
10. Would you describe either Wheeler or Jones as an “extremist”? What role did extremism play in the Civil War?