In this episode, host Mark Perzel interviews Phil Roycraft, author of The Plot to Perpetuate Slavery: How George McClellan, Southern Spies and a Confidence Man Nearly Derailed Emancipation. Roycraft reveals how General McClellan, despite leading the Union Army, secretly worked to undermine President Lincoln's efforts to end slavery. The conversation explores McClellan's covert operations, the role of spies and informants, and the political intrigue that nearly derailed the Emancipation Proclamation. Roycraft discusses his in-depth research, uncovering a hidden history of deception and political maneuvering during the Civil War.

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FEATURED TITLE & DESCRIPTION

The Plot to Perpetuate Slavery: How George McClellan, Southern Spies and a Confidence Man Nearly Derailed Emancipation. McFarland, softcover (2024) ISBN: 9781476694955 mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-plot-to-perpetuate-slavery

DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK

In the aftermath of the September 1862 Battle of Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln issued the most significant presidential decree in American history, the Emancipation Proclamation, which would forever free all slaves in territory not under Union control. Nevertheless, his chief military commander in the field, Major General George B. McClellan, was outraged. Within days, two former Union officers nefariously crossed the lines into rebeldom, an initiative resulting in an elaborate subterfuge to scam Lincoln into withdrawing the Proclamation in return for nebulous promises of peace.

This book tells the story, obscured in a veil of secrecy for 150 years, of the cloak-and-dagger chess match between Union detectives and Southern operatives in the months before emancipation became effective. Despite an ominous warning by author Herman Melville five years before, the scheme to perpetuate slavery almost succeeded, for it was engineered by a man the National Police Gazette once declared the “King of the Confidence Men.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phil Roycraft is an environmental engineer, historian and author specializing in the Civil War era. He is the author of "Valuable Hereafter: A Collectors Guide to the Vicksburg Daily Citizen" and has written articles for a variety of historical journals including the "Michigan History Magazine," "Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies," the "Journal of Illinois History" and the "Maryland Historical Magazine." A graduate of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, he hails from Evanston, Illinois, home of prominent Methodist Episcopal abolitionists John Dempster and Otis H. Tiffany.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561601684892

OTHER BOOK(S) BY PHIL

"Valuable Hereafter: A Civil War Collector's Guide to the Vicksburg Daily Citizen Wallpaper Editions." Self-published, softcover/Kindle (2018) ISBN: 9781537798981

https://www.amazon.com/Valuable-Hereafter-Collectors-Vicksburg-Wallpaper/dp/1537798987

ABOUT MCFARLAND

McFarland, a leading independent publisher of academic and general-interest nonfiction books, is perhaps best known for the serious treatment of popular culture. Founded in 1979, McFarland is recognized among authors and readers as adventurous in range and a reliable source of worthy books that other publishers overlook. They have about 8000 unique works for sale and each year publish about 350 new titles. Meeting high library standards has been a major focus since the company began, and many McFarland books have received awards from the academic-oriented (Choice Outstanding Academic Title, ALA Outstanding Reference Work) to the mainstream (Hugo, Edgar, Stoker, and Eisner, among others). www.McFarlandBooks.com

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