The Civil War Veteran: A Historical Reader (review)

This anthology focuses on Civil War soldiers as veterans. The editors note that our understanding of more recent wars colors our views of earlier wars and their veterans. Rejecting the popular assumption that military service, particularly in combat, is the great common denominator of the veteran experience, they emphasize the heterogeneity of the veteran group. The essays, organized in five parts, highlight many of these differences in experience and challenge our expectations and stereotypes of the Civil war veteran.

In some cases, the specialized literature is not voluminous, e.g., on demobilization. This may explain why, in Part 1, "Transition to Peace," only two articles address the theme of demobilization; one asks if southern soldiers developed a sense of southern nationalism during their Confederate service, and the last one looks at efforts to mould a southern memory of the war - a topic reserved for Part 5.

Where the literature has produced superb classical works, the editors include key excerpts. In Part 2, "Problems of Readjustment," for example, they draw from Eric Dean's work on combat stress. Often, civilians fear that soldiers learned nothing of use in service and would become unstable, either idle vagabonds, criminals, or murderers and rapists, as the post-Vietnam social commentary suggests for that war. The editors provide several well-chosen pieces that raise these issues and illustrate the false assumptions underlying the thesis, and argue that the vast majority of Civil War veterans became productive and peaceful citizens.

Essays in Part 3, "Governments Provide Aid," examine the development of the federal pension system and soldiers' homes. They discuss the southern resistance, based on the stigma of the handout and poor relief, to pensions and housing. Key themes include ethnic and racial discrimination in pensions, and the inadequacy and inappropriateness of contemporary psychological treatment.

In Part 4, "Veterans Fight Their Own Battles," several essays examine either the veteran as political activist, or his organizations (particularly the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans) as political forces. They close this section with a micro instance of resistance to paternalistic authoritarian rule by inmates of a Maine soldiers' home.

Finally, in Part 5, "Veterans Shape the Collective Memory," the essays examine the role of veterans and their organizations in shaping how the Civil War was perceived. Northern veterans had a very different intent than southern veterans, and the resulting imagery and stories divided a nation that politicians increasingly wanted to unify. In the course of developing these stories, northerners would come to ignore the black soldier veteran and southerners would ignore the black slave as casus belli.

The book is well prepared, nicely done, and the essays are largely well-chosen. In a few cases, they suggest a paucity of scholarship and possible dissertation topics. This book seems too specialized for use in an undergraduate Civil War Era course. Its best and widest use might well be in undergraduate and graduate readings courses, and as a recommended reading for seminar students seeking possible research topics. This book has a place in the libraries of institutions where the Civil War is taught.