WILFRED BUCK YEARNS (1918–2006) was a professor emeritus of history at Wake Forest University. His books include The Confederate Congress and The Confederate Governors (both Georgia), North Carolina Civil War Documentary, and From Richmond to Texas.This collection of thirteen essays examines the leaders of the southern states during the Civil War. Malcolm C. McMillan writes of the futile efforts of Alabama’s wealthy governors to keep the trust of the poor non-slaveholding whites. Paul D. Escott shows Georgia Governor Joseph Emerson Brown’s ability to please both the planter elite and the yeoman farmers. John B. Edmunds, Jr. examines the tremendous problems faced by the governors of South Carolina, the state that wouldThis collection of thirteen essays examines the leaders of the southern states during the Civil War. Malcolm C. McMillan writes of the futile efforts of Alabama’s wealthy governors to keep the trust of the poor non-slaveholding whites.