Citizens More than Soldiers: The Kentucky Militia and Society in the Early Republic

Conclusion: Citizens More than Soldiers

The militia’s range of activities and its influence on definitions of masculinity provide evidence of the citizen-soldiers’ continued relevance and vitality in the early republic. The prevailing interpretation of the militia as either defunct or irrelevant, as manned by tipsy semi-soldiers under the command of clownish colonels, does not survive close scrutiny. The militiamen’s influence reached beyond the narrow responsibilities of a purely martial institution as they made significant contributions to the social, political, and cultural maturation of the public sphere. The militia reveled in the public eye, taking to holiday streets for parades or crowded fields for political barbecues. On each occasion they reinforced the corporate nature of society, reminding audiences of the ties that bound one to another in community and fellowship. Rich and poor, black and white, male and female joined in when citizen-soldiers paraded through town or when militia officers and town elders gave a holiday oration. All who smelled hickory smoke and barbecue could gather at Maxwell’s Spring in Lexington and partake of the summer’s bounty. The shared beef and bourbon, however, concealed a subtext of social division hidden in the comity of these festivals. The militia’s decision to mark particular events and the messages communicated through word and ritual reinforced and legitimated social distinctions and the political philosophies of the hegemonic culture. Each muster and each parade of the smartly uniformed volunteers reaffirmed the ideals of a wellordered , disciplined society and respect for authority. Moreover, the militia’s celebratory rituals promoted loyalty to country and political party, prescribed appropriate behavior for the men who were included and the women who were excluded, and reinforced the social pecking order. [ 144 ] :feZclj`fe citizens more than soldiers conclusion [ 145 ] Ritualism also sustained the militia’s self-identity and male unity. Marching, uniforms, and a weapons culture based on tradition and custom set militiamen apart from their civilian neighbors, reinforcing their exclusivity and the racial and gender unity of the white male participants . The practice of toast making further supported the hierarchical social ladder as the rounds of drinking excluded the “American Fair,” blacks, and mulattos but welcomed white men from farm and field, from courthouse and Congress. Although the offering of toasts was normally restricted to captains, majors, mayors, and the like, the shared experience of memorializing reaffirmed the hegemonic power shared by all white males. Within these all-male organizations, masculinity was defined and the bonds of male unity were forged. Citizen-soldiers’ shared ideologies , experiences, and customs encouraged a transformation as they celebrated, drilled, fought, and even died together. Writing in 1843, the biographer of Col. Richard M. Johnson described how, through a shared martial experience, disparate individuals developed a corporate identity based on masculine qualities and fraternal bonds. Referring to Johnson’s regiment that fought at the Battle of the Thames in 1813, the biographer wrote, “They were as brothers. There was no austerity required in the officers, no degrading submission on the part of the privates ; but they were equals, all impelled by the same patriotic spirit, and each one esteemed it his glory to observe the strictest discipline without compulsion. A bond of fraternity united them as one. Col. Johnson, though their commander, regarded each one as a brother and an equal; he never could relish praise for the deeds which they performed, unless they were sharers with himself in that praise.” Militia service created both an environment that legitimated men’s racial, gendered, and hierarchical notions of society and a place to confirm the ties of fellowship that defined a brotherhood of equals, albeit a brotherhood that excluded all but white men. According to sociologist W. Lloyd Warner, celebrating, politicking, or the simple act of joining as a community “draw[s] all people together to emphasize their similarities and common heritage, to minimize their differences, and to contribute to their thinking, feeling and acting alike.” Such events are “a sacred symbol system which functions periodically to unify the whole community.” Emile Durkheim makes a similar point in his study of religion: “There can be no society which does conclusion [ 146 ] not feel the need of upholding and reaffirming at regular intervals the collective sentiments and the collective ideas which make its unity and its personality.” He further observes that “this moral remaking cannot be achieved except...