Reading Response #2
Article Annotation Analysis Organizer
Thesis Statement:
In The Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War In The Heart Of
America 1859-1863 to Ayers, loyalty and survival faith had to be
reinvented as family and communities saw a rushing tide of
Confederate afflictions inflicting upon Augustans despite late war
Union invasions during America's second civil war. Via personal
letters, diaries and through the eyes of one community, typical of
the South as a whole, Ayers provides a glimpse into how war felt to
those who fought it as civilians and on the home front. Using local
legends masterfully from another single place, Ayers splits open
beloved myths and presents not the clear-eyed past but an
American history of a different kind.
Supporting Evidence/Main Idea 1:
Since family and community pressure played a significant part in
sending men to serve, it also became crucial in the case of loyalty.
Ayers provid es exampl es of wo men who a cted as prominen t
attractors of loyalty even more loudly than men did. John Imboden’s
wife Mary, was so considered “a red hot Southern Confederacy
woman” and “a terror” for arm twisting neighbors to join the
Confederate army.(pg176) “General John Imboden’s wife was a
terror. She was said to be ‘a red hot Southern Confederacy woman,’
she made her neighbors form a company and join up ".(pg 176-177)
Disease was no excuse to evade service. Cowards or traitors were
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