Errata:

I messed up one reference badly. What I had in mind was Frank L. Owsley's "Plain Folk of the Old South," where not only Pleasant Ridge Precinct is evaluated, but several other precincts from Greene County, as well as areas of the Mississippi Delta and parts of Georgia.

Nor was it my intention to make any broad generalizations in my previous post. Perhaps a more apt summation would be that those at the North who took inspiration from Mrs. Howe's anthem would espouse a "holy war" outlook. Certainly those who were motivated to prosecute a crusade against slavery, i.e. abolitionists, would embrace this perspective.

And I wouldn't be surprised to find quite a few on each side who would not fall into either camp.