Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia (review)

The internal struggles the southern population experienced as they weathered the storm of civil war led to deep class divisions that ultimately contributed to the downfall of the Confederacy. Such is the argument historians posit. Yet Sheehan-Dean, in his detailed and masterfully defended monograph Why Confederates Fought, challenges prevailing assumptions of the class antagonisms arising from biased conscription policies, economic downturns, and diminishing resources. Rather, he argues that slaveholding and non-slaveholding soldiers shared a deep commitment to the cause of Confederate independence, one rooted in the intertwined duties to protect family and nationhood that remained throughout the course of the war.

Using the backdrop of Virginia, Sheehan-Dean distinguishes the reasons why soldiers entered the conflict and how those motivations changed over time. He contends that the growing democratization of politics, affectionate familial relations, and the economic and social benefits of slavery for southern whites in the antebellum era created a culture ripe for participation in the defense of the nascent Confederacy. The desire to preserve the status quo therefore led nearly 90 percent of the state's eligible men to enlist in the military. Even as the controversial Conscription Act and bloody confrontations on the battlefront challenged Virginia soldiers early in the war, the dedication to defend the family and growing sense of a shared national identity strengthened their commitment to remain in the military. Although historians often point to the growing rate of deserting soldiers to demonstrate a decline in morale, Sheehan-Dean argues that public outcry against deserters coupled with the family-like relations within the camps helped soldiers overcome their frustrations with the military experience.

As the war dragged on, the "culture of sacrifice" and growing Union dedication to hard war policies strengthened the resolve of Confederate soldiers. The romanticized view of the sacrificing soldier that resonated from the conviction of the Confederacy's divine mission, elevated combatants to the level of national heroes and helped family members on the home front to reconcile their fear of death with their support for the cause. Sheehan-Dean, however, is careful not to overstate his assertion that all relations remained harmonious throughout the war. Instead, he explores the tensions emerging within the ranks between soldiers and officers as well as the growing emotional distance between those serving and those who remained at home. Yet, the author adeptly proves that while these antagonisms existed, soldiers' allegiance to protect home, state, and nation trumped such divisions. Rumors of home front atrocities at the hands of Federal troops and the disintegration of slavery, especially after the Emancipation Proclamation, reinvigorated soldiers even as war exacted a large toll on Robert E. Lee's army in the state by the end of 1864. The opening of the new year promised equally troubling hardships as Confederate leaders debated whether to enlist slaves to fight, soldiers endured fatigue and hunger in the ranks, and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia experienced a surge in desertions. Despite the Confederacy's grim prospects, Virginia's soldiers remained supporters of the cause for independence, viewing it as a means to "create a society of their own design" (190).

Sheehan-Dean's study is an impressive work, enhanced by the quantitative and anecdotal evidence from Virginia's soldiers and their families. Adding to recent reassessments of the tenacity of Confederate nationalism, such as Jacqueline Glass Campbell's study of Sherman's March in the Carolinas and the examination of Virginia's civilians by William Blair, Sheehan-Dean's revealing exploration illustrates the interrelatedness of wartime conditions and national cause. The author also illuminates the need for more state-specific explorations of soldiers' motivations for fighting. For example, did those from areas removed from the physical proximity of military engagements remain as committed to the cause as Virginia's soldiers? Why Confederates Fought is an engaging study that is essential to understanding Confederates' commitment to independence and the origins of...