The Federal Department of the South with Eric Totten

In this episode of Historians & Their Histories, Dr. Eric Paul Totten discusses his research on the Federal Department of the South, focusing specifically on New England regiments that carried conservative, anti-abolitionist, and nativist beliefs into the Civil War. He shares how his work examines the "dark turn" of military occupation, moving beyond traditional narratives to investigate instances of bigotry, drunkenness, and the complex politics of emancipation. We also learn about what inspired him to become an historian, as well as his unexpected archival discoveries regarding treasury agent Albert G. Browne and General Alfred Howe Terry found in the collections of the MHS and its consortium partners. Dr. Totten is the recipient of a fellowship from the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium and is the 1,000th Research Fellow sponsored by the MHS. To learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply, please visit this page. Learn more about this episode here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-23-Totten  This episode uses materials from:   Colocate by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported)