Themes of the American Civil War

mentioned patriotism and ideology than adventure and excitement Indeed,
McPherson contends that ideological convictions were crucial in prompting men on both sides of the Mason–Dixon line to volunteer. The problem for any study of the ideological motivations of Civil War soldiers is that the volunteers themselves were often vague in their definitions and understanding of ideological and psychological values. McPherson himself warns that the motives of many volunteers were mixed in away that was impossible for them to disentangle in their own minds.”
7
Michael Barton has proposed a delineation between ideological terms, such as freedom, democracy,
equality, and individualism, and psychological terms, including patriotism,
religion, and achievement. Barton found that the psychological terms were used more frequently in the letters and diaries of Civil War soldiers, and that most also expressed admiration for high moral standards.
8
However,
ideology, patriotism, religion, and morality were often interwoven in the mind of the volunteers in away such as to make the connections between them indistinguishable and irrelevant. Patriotic sentiment in the North, for example, was heavily based upon the pride many felt in their democratic system of government, which protected the freedom of every American to do as he wished under the law, ensured freedom of religion, and prevented degeneration into lawlessness and immorality. What can be said with some degree of certainty is that patriotism and ideology underpinned the initial motivation of many in both the North and the South—both sides claimed to be the true heirs to the principles of the American Revolution, and each accused the other of betraying that inheritance—and drew many to the colors in spite of family, friends, and gloomy forebodings.”
9
For some volunteers, North and South, pride in their government, nation,
or section, developed into a strangely possessive affinity, and led to strong indignation in the face of any threat to the status quo. Wilbur J. Cash, in his attempt to comprehend the Southern mind contended that Confederate motivation throughout the war was based upon a conviction on the part of every southerner that nothing living could cross him and getaway with it.”
10
The South had seceded in the first place to preclude domination by the North, and consequent loss of control over its own institutions and laws. Fighting for their independence was the next logical step for many
Confederate volunteers, and references to potential enslavement to the North should the Confederacy be defeated were common not only in Southern newspapers and political debates, but also in the letters of the volunteers themselves. There were not many Americans who remained unaware of the political situation following the tumultuous election of Abraham Lincoln,
and maintenance of their freedom and independence was paramount in the motivation of many southerners. Indignation was, however, far from being a Southern monopoly. Southern dominance of the US. Senate,
Supreme Court, and, in the form of James Buchanan, presidency in the 1850s
Men at Arms
•
83

had engendered a sense of injustice in the more populous North which was exacerbated by controversial pro-Southern legislation such as the Fugitive
Slave law and the Kansas–Nebraska Act.
11
The perception of Southern leaders as arrogant and highhanded was, for many in the North, confirmed by the secession of the Southern states when the election of 1860 did not go in their favor. The attack upon Fort Sumter was the final straw that brought
Northern indignation to the fore, and prompted resolutions by political bodies, local communities and individuals across the Northern states to standby the stars and stripes wherever they float, by land or sea.”
12
As
Reid Mitchell as put it,“one way to sum up Union war motivations succinctly was to say, the South needed to be taught a lesson.”
13
Most Americans in the s felt a very real affinity and allegiance toward their community, section, and, for the northerners, their country. The consciousness of duty was pervasive in Victorian America and many felt a binding moral duty to defend the flag of their nation or—as in the case of
Robert E. Lee—their state in the crisis.
14
More than this, to fail in their moral duty to nation or state was perceived by many as failing their community.
Thomas Hopkin Deavenport was fairly typical in the mixture of duty,
honor, and the wish to be worthy of his family, community, and country (in this case, the South) which prompted him to enlist. I felt that I had no right to enjoy blessings purchased by others he recalled when explaining his enlistment. Remarking that he would consider himself unworthy of his family, ancestors, and patriotic heritage, Deavenport determined, if in my power to prevent it, my country should never be enslaved, or if she were,
that she should never clank her chains in my ears and say it was your cowardice that led me to this.”
15
This wish to demonstrate one’s honor,
duty, and courage was thus interwoven with a spirit of community and patriotic sentiment in both North and South that propelled men into the army camps of 1861, and gave them a solid motivational basis for the sustained conflict that few anticipated.
16
As much as going to war seemed a lighthearted business inmost of those in blue or gray enlisted for reasons with more depth and resonance than the pursuit of glory or excitement.
Before concluding this survey of the motives that led so many Americans to volunteer in 1861 one final point—often ignored in more recent studies of initial motivation—deserves some attention. In his broad survey of soldier life in the Union army, The Life of Billy Yank The Common Soldier of the
Union, Bell Wiley remarked that, preposterous as it may seem, many were attracted by the paltry $13 paid to the private soldier, and by the prospects for promotion. The first months of the war were marked by depression,”
he reminded readers, and unemployment recurred periodically until
1863.”
17
While some saw the war as steady pay and employment fora short time, others grasped the opportunity to escape their mundane existence,
84
•
Andrew Haughton

establish their independence and manhood, and use their courage and ability to achieve greater standing in their community through a display of their bravery and martial qualities. More than a few nursed hopes of returning home at the end of the war as officers. Arthur B. Carpenter, for example, was
“becoming increasingly disenchanted with everyone and everything in the turbulent spring of 1861; he did not particularly care for his work in his uncle’s shoe business but found no other jobs available Combined with a patriotic wish to defend his government and flag, Carpenter’s boredom and lack of prospects led him to enlist over the objections of his family, and by
October, 1861, he was as a sergeant in the 19th Regiment, US. Infantry,
drawing good pay and enjoying his incipient military training.
18

Download 2.25 Mb.

Share with your friends: