Edward A. Pollard
| Edward A. Pollard | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 27, 1832 Nelson County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | December 17, 1872 (aged 40) Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
University of Virginia College of William and Mary |
| Occupation | writer |
| Political party | Democratic |
Edward Alfred Pollard (February 27, 1832 – December 17, 1872) was a Virginian journalist and author. Pollard was a Confederate sympathizer during the American Civil War and wrote several books on the causes and events of the conflict.
Pollard is most famous for authoring The Lost Cause in 1866, followed up by The Lost Cause Regained in 1868. These two works, both written after the war, gave two different descriptions of the causes of the war and the nature of southern society. The earlier work saw the war as being between two opposing ways of organizing society and saw slavery as a key part of the nobility of the South and a key basis of the difference between the societies. The latter work argued that the primary reason for Secession was not slavery but the preservation of state sovereignty, although he clearly supported the institution of slavery.
The Lost Cause and The Lost Cause Regained both advocated for the supremacy of the white race, supported the relegation of blacks to a second class status, and accused the U.S. government of alleged excesses committed during and after the war. However, The Lost Cause Regained reflected much of Pollards post-1867 writing in attempting to reconcile former pro-Confederacy ideas with new realities and supported patriotism and free-labor Unionism.
Edward Alfred Pollard was born on February 27, 1832 on the Oakridge Plantation in Nelson County, Virginia. He graduated at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1849. He then studied the Law at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia as well as in Baltimore, where he was admitted to the bar.
He worked for a newspaper in California until 1855. He later wrote that his time in California convinced him that free-labor societies were a competitive war of all against all, a philosophy which he used in his justifications of slave society. From 1857 to 1861, he was clerk of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary.
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