Confederate casualty figures are as incomplete and unreliable as the figures on the number of Confederate soldiers. Most Confederate soldiers enlisted for the duration of the war. Confederate forces (most of whom were, by this point, turncoat soldiers and officers) shelled the fort and forced it to surrender. Well, slavery was something that the people of that generation had inherited and I don't think it was a practice that any of them loved. Sure, it's worth going back to see how his actions were understood and perceived in the past. View all posts by irishconfederates. Though scholars energetically debate whether or not the Confederate States of America achieved “nationhood,” there is no denying that the Confederacy acted as a separate country for the four years of its existence. That is, their service was motivated by a sense of patriotism. Union soldiers and even several Presidents honored the courage and valor of the Confederate veterans and did not begrudge them their statutes which stood as memorials to their fallen heroes and the lives lost in that war. In For Cause and Comrade, by James McPherson (New York: Oxford Univ. DiLorenzo ignores President Lincoln’s General Orders No. On November 30, 1939, the Red Army crosses the Soviet-Finnish border with 465,000 men and 1,000 aircraft. Not much in the way of a “boot camp” as we think of them today. The majority of those enlisted were farmers but other trades included carpenters, merchants, blacksmiths and … 1. Confederate soldiers were in general a rag-tag clothed Army. That said, it was obvious and natural that the natives of an invaded region would rally to defend their states, communities, and livelihoods, especially 1864-1865 as the horrors of War became more apparent to the civilian population of the South. This was the answer a Confederate POW allegedly gave when asked why he was fighting against the Union. For Cause and Comrade, p. 125. ( Log Out /  That caused some soldiers to express sentiments opposing the Northern peace Democrats. Connected to the issue of slavery was simple racism. 4. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Their motivation in their own words was to preserve the servitude of the African race; these traitors are in fact some of the greatest villains in American history." A factor modern day students of the Civil War era often forget, is that in the 19th Century many individuals felt greater loyalty to their home or adopted states than to the Government and nation at large. Some historians even attempt to show that regardless of Union or Confederate, soldiers’ motivations were similar due to a shared American identity. Here's an interview of a confederate soldier who seems to think slavery was a secondary … Most Civil War soldiers on either side went to war for at least one of these three reasons. According to Dr. McPherson’s study, 57% of Confederate soldiers espoused patriotic sentiment for serving. Anastasia was the mother of George Price Crane. Largely on-the-job much as it was int he Union Army. For the 647 Union fighting men, the proportion was virtually the same: 441, or 68 percent. In response, Lincoln called for volunteers to help put down the rebellion, prompting the states of Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, and North Carolina to secede as well, as they refused to send any forces to aid the federal cause. The issue of racism was not limited to black-white relations. They believed the North sought to subjugate the South in some way. Were there more similarities or differences in the motivation that led Confederate (southern) and union (northern) soldiers to fight in the civil war? 3. They died on … Votes: 65,540 | Gross: $31.80M You can not fight a war with volunteers unless the population is strongly motivared. 3, 4. 2. The Confederacy lost 260,000 dead. The Lieber Code established strict laws regarding wartime rape. Others may wish to know the motivation for the treason. So, the average Confederate soldier had to choose to risk his life and the lives of his family (because life in a rural society without the men was extremely hard) twice, when he first enlisted and after his first combat. As Dr. McPherson mentions, once the choice is first made, the typical combat soldier is forced to re-examine his choice at least two more times, once after his first battle and then again when he re-enlists. Image of a Slave’s service in the Confederate army, Andrew Martin Chandler of the Forty-fourth Mississippi Infantry and Silas Chandler, circa 1861.Credit Collection of Andrew Chandler Battaile via Opionator.blogs.nytimes Change ). 5. ADVERTISEMENT. *10 points to best answer! Splitting the criticism avoids, or at least sidesteps, that judgement. You see, the infamous murder can be traced back to the president’s actions during the conflict – and one in particular set Booth on edge. ( Log Out /  Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Civil war is an organized war between organized groups within the same state or country their aim may be political is to take control of the country or a given region. Founded in 2006, Historum is a history forum dedicated to history discussions and historical events. While it would be foolish to deny that slavery was the primary instigator of the War itself, very few Confederate soldiers were slave owners - most were poor farmers, little more than slaves themselves. Ibid. The New Orleans ladies shall long be remembered for their devoted patriotism.” My great-great-grandfather likely met his future wife that day. Most Confederate soldiers were not slaveholders, and a majority of Confederate officers were not slaveholders either. Missouri farmer Josey Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family. The North was home to an increasingly enormous population of German, Jewish, Italian, and Irish immigrants, many of whom were viewed with distaste by nativists throughout the country. Whether they have the motivation to is another matter. Religious differences. This dearth of proper uniforms often caused boots, belts, jackets or whatever was needed, to be “confiscated” at the same time as the Union rifle. Helsinki was bombed, and 61 Finns were killed in an Booth’s motivation for slaying the president may still seem unclear, but it was firmly rooted in the role Lincoln played during the American Civil War. This leads to popular misconceptions forming in the public's mind about important people and events, particularly with early American history, and even with some events occurred during modern record-keeping.In the present day, every line a politician speaks publicly is meticulously documented and can be readily retrieved by eager fact-finders. In all, around 360,000 Union soldiers died as a direct result of the war. In any event, those sentiments changed in 1863. The bravery, stamina, fighting spirit, and at times, the cruelty and even sadism of Southern whites had proven far more impressive in the Texan War of Independence, the Mexican War, and Bleeding Kansas than that of the North. 100, also known as the Lieber Code of 1863, which set clear rules for engaging with enemy combatants and clarified how Union soldiers should treat civilians, and in particular women. That said, I think it is both wise and often very interesting to examine all sides of the story in history. Confederate Soldier A typical Confederate soldier was also a native-born US citizen, unmarried white Protestant male. But, Dr. McPherson did the next best thing. Much like the issue of state-patriotism, these religious differences are poorly understood and rarely studied in detail today, but must have played a role in causing a rift between North and South. Report profane or abusive content. The Confederate soldiers at Vicksburg faced horror and hardship rather than consider surrendering to the Union. The dominant themes in their wartime letters were homesickness and a longing for peace. False According to Senator John Sherman, the war resulted in capitalists like J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie, who imagined making "millions as confidently as formerly of thousands" after the war. Re-enlisting was not an option for most Southern soldiers. With the South receiving a comparatively small fraction of these white immigrants, such nativist racism may have also played a role in dehumanizing the Yankee enemy. Mumford went to the home of my ancestor’s aunt in New Orleans. Slavery was the political issue and served as the backdrop of the war, for most, was not their motivations for fighting. 429 Confederate soldiers and sailors whose letters or diaries form the basis for this book, 283, or 66 percent, affirmed such motivations at one time or another after enlisting. Dr. McPherson is a well known Civil War historian. Most Confederate soldiers served with a unit raised in the community where they lived. In his career, he explains that having looked at perhaps 25,000 such records, he believed this was a representative sample. Many folks are fussing about why the Confederate soldiers served. Most Confederate soldiers enlisted for the duration of the war. Many Confederate soldiers’ are inextricably linked to the motivations for the confederate cause. The Confederate soldiers were fighting for their homes, their families, and for liberty from the Northern states and patriotic beliefs. 6. Copyright © 2006-2020 Historum. U.S., Confederate Service Records, 1861-1865. According to Dr. McPherson’s study, 57% of Confederate soldiers espoused patriotic sentiment for serving. His thoughts were recorded in his diary, not in some polemic destined for a newspaper. For Cause, p. viii. John Mitchel, the Irish rebel and editor for a time of two Richmond newspapers during the war, insisted the North was seeking to subjugate the South as Great Britain had subjugated Ireland. *5 reasons for both! Too, some white Union soldiers noticed the obvious, if a Negro soldier could stop a bullet that might otherwise be aimed at white Northerner, then that would be a good thing. . Regulations of the Army of the Confederate States For Cause, p. 110. . But, just as certain, many soldiers served simply because they saw it as their duty. Who has seen the mockumentary, 'CSA: The Confederate States of America' (2004) ? We can learn a valuable lesson from these men in 1913. The best estimates of the number of deaths of Confederate soldiers appear to be about 94,000 killed or mortally wounded in battle, 164,000 deaths from disease and between 26,000 and 31,000 deaths in Union prison camps. Christopher Hamner talked about the factors that motivated Union and Confederate soldiers during different periods of the Civil War. Award-winning historian Earl J. Hess reveals how that dynamic served as the key to success, especially for the Union army as it undertook bold offensives striking far behind Confederate lines. The samples of both Confederate and Union soldiers are biased toward the Many Southerners fought to avoid enslavement by the North. Their worlds in the mid-1800s was much smaller than ours. Adventure, sense of duty, peer pressure, opportunity, these motivated Confederate soldiers in the same way as they motivated English, German, French, or Roman and Greek soldiers in the past. James McPherson detailed that honor, duty, patriotism and ideology formed the main sustaining motivations for the Civil War, while courage, self-respect and group cohesion kept men going in combat. Union military courts prosecuted at least 450 cases involving sexual crimes. Press 1997), Dr. McPherson looked at the motivations of both the Union and Confederate soldiers. Well, slavery was something that the people of that generation had inherited and I don't think it was a practice that any of them loved. The popular perception among some folks today is that most or all Confederate soldiers served to protect their economy or “way of life.” Surely, protecting economic interests motivated some Southerners. ( Log Out /  The revival began in the Army of Northern Virginia in early 1863. 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