Our conversation with William Blair, the Liberal Arts Research Professor in U.S. History at Pennsylvania State University and author of “With Malice Towards Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era” published by the University of North Carolina Press. In this interview, Dr. Blair highlights the power of the word “treason” in the late antebellum period and how it carried over into the Civil War. Furthermore, he lays out the complicated world of Civil War provost marshals and the post-war realities when it came to treason, accusations, and rhetoric versus application.
