Until now few books on the Civil War era have adequately and fairly dealt with the Southern impulse for secession. Taking a Stand recounts the personal stories of how five Southerners came to their own individual decisions to abandon the Union. Thomas Cooper (1759-1839), Robert Bamwell Rhett (1800-1876), James Henley Thomwell (1812-1862), John Tyler (1790-1862), and John Adams Gilmer (1805-1868) - each in their viewpoint and experience represents a current in the movement that culminated in secession. Theirs is the compelling story of the birth of the Confederate cause.