Soldiers North and South: The Everyday Experiences of the Men Who Fought America's Civil War

Preface

PREFACE The American Civil War was an extraordinary event. It was a military, political, social, and constitutional milestone that shaped that nation’s understanding of unity and freedom, if imperfectly, into the present century. NoAmerican war—not the Revolutionary War, not the Great War, not the Second World War, not Vietnam—was so essential to defining what America was and should become. Despite a general acceptance of the Civil War’s significance, much about it, ranging from the relative virtues of various generals to the comparative rectitude of their causes, still engenders heated debate. Historians, battlefield re-enactors, politicians, and cultural partisans continue to argue about why the war came, why it turned out the way it did, and what its outcome actually meant. Few interested individuals, however, question the extraordinary sacrifices of the men who fought it. Just a look at the casualty figures suggests that the war was an incredible event. Four years of hard fighting, grueling marches, and rugged camp life took their toll. Some 620,000 men and boys lost their lives either on the battlefield or from battle wounds and in prisoner of war stockades or their own camps and hospitals. Add to that death total the number of men who endured chronic illnesses, awkward gaits, abscessing amputations, and terrible disfigurement, and casualties approach 1.1 million. That figure would no doubt be even higher if the men who appeared whole but suffered psychological damage could be included. Surely there were scoundrels, skulkers, and criminals among the dead, wounded, and surviving soldiers. Most Civil War soldiers, however, deserve honorable consideration because they put aside their civilian lives and assumed the burdens of their respective causes even if such action meant sacrificing their immediate comfort and security and that of their families. Even the bored youths who enlisted because they wanted excitement in their lives deserve respect because, despite the hardships, for whatever their reasons, they stayed on in the ranks to do a difficult job. Civil War soldiers were not always eager combatants, but perhaps the most heroic of them were the ones who swallowed hard, offered a prayer, overcame their fears, and charged into the enemy’s guns in spite of themselves. x PREFACE Soldiers North and South is my attempt to understand why these men made the sacrifices that they did. The book’s first chapter provides an overview of the war, from the secession of the Southern states and the firing on Fort Sumter in 1861, to the final battles and capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the spring of 1865. By exploring in subsequent chapters how and why Northern and Southern men rallied to their flags (Chapters 2 and 3), trained to be soldiers (Chapter 4), lived in camp (Chapter 5), marched to the fight (Chapter 6), endured combat (Chapter 7), and dealt with the aftermath of battle (Chapter 8), we can appreciate how such a grand drama of national scope touched the lives of individuals, especially when we pay attention to what those men had to say about their experiences. It is important to note that their stories did not end with the final surrender of Confederate forces. Thus we also need to pay attention to the veterans ’ transition to peace (Chapter 9), and how those men created the memories they nurtured in their old age (Epilogue). Civil War soldiers left behind a mountain of letters, diaries, and memoirs to assist scholars in the task of understanding their wartime lives. Readers today are indeed fortunate because publishers, and especially a long list of university presses, have seen fit to devote so much of their resources to printing these materials. Consequently, the main source of information for this book is the published letters, diaries, and memoirs of the men who fought the war. The bibliography of Soldiers North and South only hints at the first-hand accounts available to an individual who wishes to become familiar with the men who fought at Bull Run, Pea Ridge, Gettysburg, Atlanta, and Petersburg. I have tried wherever possible to allow these extraordinary individuals to tell their own stories in their own words. Anyone wishing to understand the lives of Civil War soldiers must also listen to the scholars who have spent years delving into these documents and trying to draw larger conclusions from so many particulars. The present effort relied heavily on such work, as the bibliography indicates, but some scholars deserve special mention, if only to alert readers unfamiliar with their work...