Bell Wiley

Bell Irvin Wiley (January 5, 1906 in Halls, Tennessee – April 4, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) was an American historian who specialized in the American Civil War, and was an authority on military history and the social history of common people.

Born in rural western Tennessee, Wiley was one of 13 children, 11 of whom lived past infancy. The family did farm work, and Wiley had the experience of plowing behind a mule. His dislike for the drudgery of farm chores and the merciless Southern heat motivated him to plan a career in education.

Wiley's maternal grandfather served with the Army of Tennessee, fighting against Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s forces. While he barely knew him, Wiley did grow up with his widow, who often enthralled him as a boy with personal stories. Often during Sunday dinner, Wiley’s family would play host to both an ex-Rebel and ex-Yankee, who would give the young man a first-hand account as to what they faced when each had been trying to kill the other.

Wiley earned a BA at Asbury College in 1928, and a PhD from Yale University in 1933, where he worked under Ulrich B. Phillips. In 1934 Wiley became a professor of history at State Teachers College (now the University of Southern Mississippi). He married Mary Frances Harrison in 1937; they had two children. He served as professor of history at the University of Mississippi (1938-1943), Louisiana State University (1946-1949), and Emory University (1949-1974). Wiley was a pioneer in the social history of the Civil War, with important books on soldiers, women. and blacks.

Wiley's dissertation Southern Negroes, 1861-1865 (1938) dispels many of the myths about blacks during the American Civil War. He showed it was false that most slaves remained loyal to their former masters following emancipation; instead, some slaves did choose to stay with their former owners, but most willingly left their masters behind in order to take control of their own lives. He also exposes the myth that former slaves who joined the Union Army were as well treated as white soldiers.

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