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| 67 3 “A Regular Old-Fashioned Free Fight” Physical Prowess and Honor Even a cursory reading of Union Army records and the letters and diaries of Civil War soldiers and officers uncovers the rampant minor tussles and even brutal fighting that made up every day life in the army. Moral and self-controlled Union soldiers generally avoided physical confrontations with their comrades, but others regularly engaged in fights and bouts of heavy drinking. These men participated in a culture of male camaraderie centered on boisterous noise, unruly behavior, and feats of prowess. They tested the strength of other men and expected newcomers to prove their manhood in physical contests. They had particular trouble with authority figures and often resented their officers. And to the dismay of many Union soldiers, such men could be found everywhere. Alfred Bellard, although he had no relish for fighting himself, participated in the culture of male camaraderie that valued physical prowess and uncontrolled behavior. Bellard emigrated from Hull, England, to New York City with his parents in the 1850s. His father, a skilled engraver and coppersmith, owned a shop and saved enough money to purchase a decent home in Hudson City, New Jersey, and hire a live-in maid. When the war started, Bellard was eighteen years old and working as a carpenter’s apprentice. He joined Company C of the 5th New Jersey, a company of immigrants mainly from Ireland, Germany, and England. A wound at Chancellorsville, for which he spent the summer of 1863 in the hospital, sent him into the Invalid Corps, renamed the Veteran Reserve Corps, until his enlistment expired. He spent the last months of his service performing provost marshal duty in Washington DC.1 Bellard and his companions were a noisy and boisterous lot. When his regiment departed for the south in August 1861 by train, Bellard reported, “We amused ourselves by singing, shouting, and making as much noise as 68 | Physical Prowess and Honor possible.” They drank freely whenever possible and needed little provocation to break into fistfights and melees. Waiting for transports and drinking whiskey in December 1861 afforded the rowdy men of the 5th New Jersey one opportunity. Two officers began to fight each other and drew swords. This instigated “a regular old-fashioned free fight” between two companies that lasted half an hour and produced numerous bloody noses and black eyes. The violence continued the next night on the transports, when a company of city recruits stationed themselves on the gangway, challenged each passerby to name his company, and summarily knocked down any man from one of the rural units. Bellard found similar companions in the Veteran Reserve Corps. To celebrate July 4, 1864, the men tapped two kegs of beer. “Some of the boys made good use of it by getting tight and having a free fight, which resulted in black eyes and bloody noses,” Bellard recalled.2 Bellard did not want to fight, but like others who encountered these men, he had to prove his manhood in physical confrontations in order to be let alone. One of his bunk mates tested him with a hard kick in the middle of the night. The blow forcefully propelled Bellard out of bed and onto the stove. Bellard immediately jumped to his feet and pulled his comrade’s red beard until the man “cried enough.” Bellard had no more trouble after that. The first two colonels of the 5th New Jersey, Samuel H. Starr and William Joyce Sewell, likewise had to establish their physical dominance in order to lead such men effectively. The first night on the transports, a group of them rushed Colonel Starr’s cabin with the intention of chucking him overboard. Starr, a veteran of the regular service who served with the dragoons on the frontier for years, was not intimidated. He swung the door open with sword drawn and cut one of the men down. “This had the effect of cooling them off and they had more respect for the old man ever afterwards,” Bellard commented. A year later, the Irish immigrant Sewell commanded the regiment. When one soldier refused an order to disperse, Sewell pushed the man, who blustered that if the colonel did not have on his shoulder straps he would not do it. “The colonel informed him that he would take his straps off and lick him,” Bellard reported with admiration. The soldier’s friends quickly removed him from the scene.3 German immigrant August Scherneckau served with similar...

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