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“Witness the Redemption of the Army”: Reenlistments in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, January–March 1864
- Louisiana State University Press
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IN THE SPRING OF 864, THE THREE-YEAR TERMS OF ENLISTMENT of many soldiers in the Confederate army were set to expire. The question of whether these troops would reenlist voluntarily caused much anxiety in the army and on the southern home front. Although the Confederate Congress passed legislation extending all enlistments for the duration of the war, many army units adopted resolutions prior to the passage of the new law pledging to serve “for the war.”These public resolutions, according to historian Gary Gallagher , “ranked among the most dramatic and effective methods of sending a message” from the armies to southern civilians. Several historians have briefly examined the spring 864 Confederate army reenlistments. In Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee, Larry Daniel quotes soldiers ’letters and diaries in his treatment of the subject but offers no substantial analysis of the resolutions published in southern newspapers. Daniel also does not examine closely the reasons why veterans reenlisted. The majority of soldiers reenlisted, he concludes, “simply because they knew the war effort could not continue without them.” In his study of the Army of Northern Virginia, J. Tracy Power claims that many soldiers reenlisted out of a sense of patriotism or duty but that some “renewed their terms to avoid criticism from their comrades or the folks at home.”Although Power argues that some units “were strongly encouraged, or even forced, to ‘voluntarily’ renew their enlistments,” he quotes only a single source to support this statement. Power, like Daniel, uses primarily letters and diaries to draw his conclusions.2 “Witness the Redemption of the Army”: Reenlistments in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, January–March 864 KEITH S. BOHANNON The mass reenlistments in the winter camps of the Confederate Army of Tennessee around Dalton, Georgia, beginning in January 864 took place only weeks after the army had suffered humiliating defeats in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in late November 863. In the latter engagement victorious Union troops routed a large portion of the southern army, capturing large numbers of prisoners and a staggering forty cannon and sixtynine limbers and caissons. In the wake of these disasters, many Confederate veterans grew sensitive to reports such as that in a Montgomery newspaper stating that the Army of Tennessee “was so demoralized and reduced by desertion ” that it would “be whipped in the next fight.”3 Dozens of infantry regiments and artillery batteries responded by passing resolutions to reenlist for the duration of the war, demonstrating their continued devotion to the cause of southern independence and nationhood. The resolutions provide revealing commentary from battle-hardened veterans as to why they chose to remain in the ranks: to liberate their homes, to avoid “subjugation”and defend slavery, and to uphold personal honor and the reputation of their units and commanders.While they represent the opinion of many if not the majority of men in the ranks, some private letters and diaries reveal far more ambivalence toward voluntary reenlistment. Some men, particularly those who had joined up in the spring of 862 to avoid Confederate or state conscription and those who had actually been drafted, remained in the army in part out of fear of punishment at the hands of authorities.When these soldiers reenlisted, they did so to avoid conscription and to possibly obtain a furlough to see their families and homes. Committees composed of both officers and enlisted men wrote most of the unit resolutions that appeared in southern newspapers. Several such documents reveal a desire to inspire civilian readers.Most soldiers undoubtedly felt like those in Capt. James P. Douglas’s Texas Battery, who hoped that their actions would “kindle anew, as from ashes, those fires of patriotism which burned so intensely in the heart of the people . . . during the first few months of this revolution.”4 The 54th Senior Regiment Tennessee Volunteers is usually ascribed the honor of being the first regiment in the Army of Tennessee to reenlist for the war at Dalton. On January 4, 864, the men in the 54th held a meeting and formed a committee consisting of one man from each company to draft resolutions expressing the regiment’s desires. These stated that the “present exigencies of service render it extremely precarious”to withdraw veteran troops from the army, that the duty of every true man was to participate in the “holy 2 KEITH S. BOHANNON [34.228.40.212] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 14:53 GMT) and...