So, you've decided to support the Union. It's a noble cause to rally round the flag and fight against treason and rebellion! Unfortunately, you are in a Deep South state that was one of the first to secede. Your choices are limited due to this. Let's go over what you might do as the war progresses.

On January 1st, 1861, you heard that those hotheaded and imprudent South Carolinians have seceded from the Union, and soon enough fire-eaters appear throughout your state demanding that Georgia secedes as well. Elections for a convention have been called, and you go to vote the following day, January 2nd. There is some debate about whether the so-called "conditional unionists" were true Unionists, or if they were just timid secessionists. Most of them avowe love for the Union, but they qualify it by stating that they will secede if the South is "coerced" by the government. You will never ever vote for those treasonous secessionists, so you vote for a conditional unionist or sit this one out.

In any case, the secessionists win a majority and Georgia soon secedes from the Union.You watch in horror as the so-called Unionists quickly pledge their loyalty to the new Confederacy, including Alexander Stephens who went from speaking against secession to the Vice-President of the CSA. The pace of events is dizzying, as the Confederacy is created, given a Constitution and a President in just a couple of months. Things are uncertain, for President Buchanan is a rather ineffective lame-duck who comes to the feeble conclusion that secession is illegal but the government has no authority to stop it.

President-elect Lincoln is a nobody at that point. At most, you've heard of that guy who debated Douglas, who is a national statesman. So you don't know what to make of him. He and his Republicans say that they will not accept such a repudiation of democracy - after all, they've won the elections! If you allow any minority to secede after losing an election, then the Union is lost. Curiously enough, Seward, who have been known as a Radical, seems to be in favor of compromise now. You watch with painful anxiety as Congress fails to craft any kind of compromise while a new slaveholding Republic is being formed.

You're powerless to do anything as the crisis escalated. You're not a politician, and your lone voice is unable to sway any people. You're likely from the mountainous upcountry, and see slaveholders as petty aristocrats and are proud of tilling the land with your own hands. Some of your neighbors share your opinion, but there are some who feel greater loyalty to Georgia than the Union, and now that Georgia has seceded they pledge their lives to the Confederate cause. Soon enough, they are given a chance to prove this, when Fort Sumter falls and Lincoln calls for volunteers to subdue the rebellion.

Now, you may be a fiery Unionist, but you're unlikely to be a Republican. After John Brown's raid Republicans are persona non grata in the South. Your friends and family may forgive your Unionism, but they could never forgive that you're in favor of butchering women and children. But you hate slavery, see it as cruel and think it should be abolished. Unlikely as this may have been, let's assume that you've somehow hid these urges and are not completely hated by your community. But now being an Unionist means supporting coercion - are you in favor of fighting against Georgia and help those Yankee brigands destroy her? If you still hold onto the Union despite these obstacles, you're probably a pariah by now.

Let's assume you're lucky and you live in one of the few pockets of Unionism in Georgia. Oh, if only you lived in West Virginia or East Tennessee! True and hearty Union men live there, unlike these traitors. Even if some dislike both slavery and secession, they probably think their states come first and will fight for Georgia. If you're tenacious enough, you could maybe go North and join the Union Army. Or you could stay in Georgia and do as the Unionist of East Tennessee and sabotage the Confederacy by burning bridges or supply depots. Then again, you may end up sharing their fate and be imprisoned or even hanged! Even if you keep your head down, Confederate soldiers will take your produce, and if they think you're for the Union they may burn your farm or commit other kind of injuries. Certainly, there are no Yankees around to protect you if these rebels decide to kill you. If that doesn't happen, or you don't have a farm, then you will still suffer hardship as prices increase, the blockade keeps goods out, and you only have worthless paper money instead of hard gold.

The war is not fun, but you push on. So you decide to sit this out and wait until the Confederacy falls and the Union is restored. You don't recognize this rebel state, naturally, so you refuse to pay taxes or heed its authority. When they come to draft you into the Army, you resist at all cost. You simply don't show up when they draw your name, and if they insist, you flee to nearby forests or swamps. If the rebels feel especially vindictive, they may pursue you with bloodhounds. By this time, many have realized that this Confederacy isn't such a good idea as the cruelty of war settles in and people go hungry. You soon find comrades in other draft-dodgers and some army deserters. Many don't share your commitment to the Union and the end of slavery, but you all want to resist the Confederate government.

The rhetoric of the notables of your state contribute, for they declare that the draft and the suspension of martial law are terrible despotism that they will resist to the last. Perhaps you can hide your Unionism and get a commission as a state officer by Governor Brown, which exempts you from the draft. Or, since teachers and apothecaries are exempted, you set up your own school or store. You will not serve the Confederate army, and as you and your comrades decide that the Union was better, you held along with Unionist organizations that seek to undermine the South. Since Georgia is filled with so many secessionists, you may go a little North and join Unionists organizations such as North Carolina's Heroes of America.

Your contribution and that of your comrades is very helpful to the Union cause, lowering morale and causing fatal internal dissension that weakens the Confederacy. Towards the end of 1863, you cheer as General Grant takes Chattanooga, and now Georgia is at the frontline. You can flee to their lines and finally join the Union Army and fight for Freedom! Or continue your labor as a Union partisan. You may despair for a moment as Sherman fails to take Atlanta, but afterwards, and with Lincoln's re-election secured, you cheer wildly for the flag and the Union as Sherman marches through Georgia, burning treason to the ground.

Depending on your moral and your willingness to join the Army, you may be one of Sherman's burners, or may simply accompany his army and help yourself to some food and souvenirs from secesh farms. In the way, you may find some contrabands and your prejudices will weaken. After all, even if you believe slavery is bad, you most certainly don't think Blacks are equal. Nonetheless, your opinions have changed. You may be a full-fledged radical who now supports Black suffrage, or may think that freedom is enough, but the truth is that the war has changed you.

If you don't feel like fighting, you may join the new civil governments that are being created. President Lincoln has declared that Confederates will be offered a full-pardon if they pledge loyalty to the Union and all its laws. You're no Confederate, but naturally you're suspect. Either way, you celebrate slavery's demise and love the Union, so you have no trouble taking the Ironclad Oath, which aside from pledging loyalty to the Union swears that you never supported the Confederacy in the first place. Now protected by the Union Army, you have several options. You can become a politician, and since most traitors are excluded you probably can win a seat at the new Conventions despite your humble origins - certainly, your career as a Partisan and opposition to the CSA qualifies you as a hero of the Union. Or you may focus on getting rich, so you hire some contrabands and start growing cotton and other goods that are bound to be very highly priced. Perhaps you're thirsty for revenge, so you settle some old war scores. Finally, you may settle in your old farm, ready to live simply and humbly as a Union man, knowing that although in the great scheme of things your individual contribution mattered little, your labor and that of the other thousands of Unionists throughout the South helped to weaken the Confederacy and assure the ultimate victory of the Union.