More Than Met the Eye: Industry in the Antebellum Gulf South Michael Sean Frawley Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2014 More Than Met the Eye: Industry in the Antebellum Gulf South Michael Sean Frawley Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Frawley, Michael Sean, "More Than Met the Eye: Industry in the Antebellum Gulf South" (2014). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 2488. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/2488 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. MORE THAN MET THE EYE: INDUSTRY IN THE ANTEBELLUM GULF SOUTH A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Michael Sean Frawley B.A. Pennsylvania State University – the Behrend College, 2000 M.A. Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, 2007 August 2014 For Melissa ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As I look back now on all of the time and effort that it took to complete this work I cannot help but to be reminded of all of those people who gave their time, expertise, and support to help me to finish this endeavor. I have been extremely fortunate that I have so many wonderful friends, teachers, and family who were willing to at least feign interest in my work while I endlessly droned on about maps, tables, charts, and the importance of industry in the antebellum Gulf South. First, none of this would have been possible without the help and support of the Louisiana State University Department of History. The faculty of the department were always willing to stop and talk, give me tips on writing and research, and challenge me to explore paths that I had never thought to take. Victor Stater and Suzanne Marchand opened their home many times each semester for dinner and discussions that taught me the joys of an academic life. Moreover, I will always remember my minor field work in Caribbean slavery with Paul Hoffman, and I am still searching for that perfect number. Hopefully someday I will find it. My committee members, Gaines Foster and William J. Cooper, always were willing to go the extra mile to help me reach my goals. Moreover, I want to thank them for putting up with all of the numbers that this work attempts to drown them in. The Geography Department at LSU, and especially Craig Colten, greatly supported my work as I attempted to combine history and geography. GIS, which I learned during my minor field work, is something more historians should take advantage of when studying historical problems. Paul Paskoff was my major professor through this journey, and for once, shockingly, I do not know what to say, as words alone cannot express my gratitude. I learned more in my conversations at Louie’s, Burgersmith, and Community Coffee with Dr. Paskoff than I did in any iii classroom. Anything worthwhile in this dissertation was inspired by him. Even when I felt like I no longer could keep my head above water, he assured me that I was doing important work and that I was equal to the task. Moreover, I was privileged to be his teaching assistant for three years and learned a great deal about how to not only organize and run a class, but about how to keep a class’ attention. It was amazing to see how passionate about teaching he still was after decades in the classroom. The most important thing that I will take with me into my future endeavors is the knowledge that he is not just my teacher or advisor, he is my friend. The Louisiana State University Library also has been very important to this work. I was named editor of the Civil War Book Review in January 2013 by Elaine Smyth. Moreover, after her arrival in Baton Rouge to take up her post as the head of Special Collections at Hill Memorial Library, I was privileged to work under Jessica Lacher-Feldman. My time at the Review has been extremely valuable. Elaine and Jessica gave me free reign to improve the Review and prepare it for many future successful years. I had access to all of the latest books being published in my field while also being given the opportunity to interact with scholars around the world who work on the Civil War era. As I move on from this position, the relationships that I was able to build will serve me for years to come. I also had the good fortune to be surrounded by a cohort of fellow graduate students who were a constant source of support throughout this process. Adam Pratt waded through an avalanche of statistics, reading parts of this work as it was being written, and providing me with valuable feedback. Michael Robinson, Nathan Buman, and Kat Sawyer were always available to sit down and just talk, either about our work or about how to deal with the trials and tribulations of graduate school. Chris Childers served as a shining example of what it means to be a scholar and if my work is half as good as his recent book I will have accomplished something great. iv Katie Eskridge had the pleasure of sharing an office with me, and I am sure that she is scarred for life from that experience. I hope that you can still smell the McDonald’s french fries I insisted on eating in the office just to drive you crazy. Finally, Jason Wolfe, and his wife Ali, made my time in Baton Rouge not just instructive, but fun. They went out of their way to make sure I did not become the recluse that graduate school can drive you into becoming. At this point, most authors writing their acknowledgments take the time to thank all of the libraries and archives that they worked in, and I am no different. As part of this dissertation, I performed research that was not just taxing on me, but it was taxing also on the staff of the archives I was working in. Retrieving rolls of microfilm constantly just to see me find only one issue of a newspaper and returning it must have been frustrating to the staff. But, the staff of the Mississippi State Archives, the Alabama State Archives, and the Texas State Archives, not only did this work with a smile on their face, they went out of their way to make suggestions of archival sources in their repositories that could be of use to me. The staff of the archives of the Harvard Business School taught me the ins and outs of the R. G. Dun collection, which this dissertation could not be written without. The staff at facilities such as this do not get half of the credit and thanks that they truly deserve. Without my parents I would not be where I am today, literally. My mother, Kathy, instilled in me, from a very young age, a love of reading that inspired me to join the academic world. I still would rather sit down and read a book than do almost anything else. She also believed that I could be anything I wanted to be and that I could accomplish any goal I set for myself. Mom, I would apologize here for all of the trouble I caused you growing up, but that would not be me, and, as we both know, I am not really sorry as it was always fun. My love of the Civil War I have to credit to my father, Leo. I still have his copy of Bruce Catton’s three v volume The Army of the Potomac sitting above my desk. I read it for the first time when I was around 9 or 10 years old and have returned to its pages many times over the years. Moreover, the example he set for me has made me the person I am today. Thus, if anyone reading this has a problem with how I act today, blame him. My brother, Dan, made my childhood eventful, if not fun, and his quiet, steady support means more to me than he will ever know. My in-laws, Peggy and Chester Proba, welcomed me into their home and made me part of the family, and for that I will always be grateful. A great deal of this dissertation was written in a recliner in the corner of the living room over the holidays that I spent there. Finally, to my sister-in-law Allison, my mother always told me that if I could not say anything nice, do not say anything at all, so…. Finally, to my wife Melissa, I do not know where to begin. She listened to me read out loud every single word in this dissertation. She has supported me through this entire crazy process. I moved us half way across the country to pursue my dreams, from the winters of northwestern Pennsylvania to the summer heat of Louisiana, and she never missed a beat. As we prepare to move on from Baton Rouge, a place that we both love, she has not made a single complaint about leaving nor any questions about where, as long as we are together it does not matter to her. I could not ask for a better companion.