author
Walter L. (Walter Lynwood) Fleming
1874–1932
A major early historian of the American South and Reconstruction, he built a long academic career while writing influential books on the Civil War era. His work was widely read in its time, though it is now also discussed for reflecting the conservative Dunning School view of Reconstruction.
2 Audiobooks
The Sequel of Appomattox: A Chronicle of the Reunion of the States
by Walter L. (Walter Lynwood) Fleming
Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama
by Walter L. (Walter Lynwood) Fleming
About the author
Born near Brundidge, Alabama, in 1874, Walter Lynwood Fleming studied at what is now Auburn University and later earned a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. He went on to teach at West Virginia University, Louisiana State University, and Vanderbilt University, where he also served in senior academic leadership roles.
Fleming became known for his research on the South, slavery, the Civil War, and especially Reconstruction. His books, including Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama and Documentary History of Reconstruction, helped shape how many early twentieth-century readers understood the postwar South.
Today, he is remembered both as a prominent scholar of his generation and as an important example of the Dunning School, a historical approach that treated Reconstruction from a strongly conservative, states' rights perspective. That makes his work significant not only for the history he wrote about, but also for the way historians' interpretations have changed over time.