Kyle Snyder 24 March 2010 Hist 453: Civil War and Reconstruction Professor Harvey Why They Fought

By the spring of 1865 the American civil war had already claimed the lives of over one million American lives. This number equated to approximately three percent of the population of the United States during this period. This number included over 600,000 soldiers killed on the battlefield or from diseases encountered in the unsanitary camps and field hospitals. Those who survived were the ill-fated ones who were often left with the duty of clearing the battlefield of the dead, typically those of the opposing military, against their will. This reality was a true reminder of what they may face in the coming days, weeks, or months, or what may become of them. It also raises questions as to why these soldiers would willingly continue to fight for their cause. By remaining true to their enlistment or even re-enlisting to serve past their original enlistment these men would serve as the instrument of death in a long and brutal war. The book This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust describes some of the most gruesome images of the civil war. Those fighting the war seemed to be hit the hardest by the impact of the massive casualties around them. Faust states that Soldiers struggled for the words to describe mangled corpses strewn across battlefields (Faust, vxi). Descriptions like this make it hard to understand how soldiers would keep fighting and re-enlist in the army. The moral dilemma of killing another man to this day terrifies even the best trained soldiers. The physical motive for

killing another human is explained by Faust when he tells the story of Edwin Spofford, a Massachusetts man, who killed a southern supporter who had mortally wounded the soldier standing next to him in Washington, D.C. in 1861. Faust states that Duty and self-defense released him from an initial sense of guilt and helped him to do the work of a soldier. What this meant was that many soldiers came to kill almost as a reflex, as a response to what he saw as the murder of the comrade beside him (Faust, 35). For others the motive to keep fighting had a far more religious tone. Chandra Manning tells in the book What This Cruel War Was Over how black troops believed that God would use the war and their participation in it to achieve four main goals: the salvation of the Union and the realization of the legacy of the American Revolution, the destruction of slavery, the attainment of equal rights and justice for black Americans, and the establishment of what black soldiers called the manhood of the race, by which they meant recognition of both the masculinity of black adult males and the full humanity of all African Americans (Manning, 125). As the war waged on, more issues began to arise that could impact both the North and Souths ability to successfully wage the war. One of the issues was the problem with having enough soldiers to fight the war. By 1863 and 1864 the original three year contract most soldiers signed were about to expire. This would leave both sides with the bulk of their veteran soldiers leaving the army and severely hindering their ability to continue to wage the war. The southern solution was simple, extend all the enlistments and terminate the possibility of losing soldiers. In the North the soldiers decisions about reenlisting or going home would be voluntary (Manning, 149). At a time when the attitude of those about to re-enlist was filled with ideas about

the war being almost over and won, due to the recent military successes of the Union, it became harder to get these men to remain. The government enticed some to stay with bounties, alcohol, furloughs, and manipulation of peer pressure and unit pride (Manning, 149). For others, the life of a soldier was much more profitable and worthwhile than the life they would have without the military. Although these methods were only a temporary fix, eventually many reenlisted because the fight for freedom was worth the sacrifices many were making. By reenlisting these men also guaranteed the war would continue until the final battle had been won. The longevity of the war stemmed from a longstanding distrust between the North and the South. Many of these feelings derived from the political differences that divided the Northern and Southern way of life. The North, which was mainly republican, had wanted the abolition of slavery throughout the entire country. The South, mainly democrats, had wanted the government to return back to the way it was prior to the war when slavery was allowed. Neither side was willing to give up their political agendas which prevented a peace treaty in 1864. Lincolns irreducible conditions consisted of both reunion and abolition, his detractors insisted that only the presidents stubbornness on emancipation prevented a peaceful settlement, just as President Davis hoped would happen if he kept quiet about a separate Confederate nation as a precondition to settlement (Manning, 149). Political preference was not the sole source for the division. The pro and anti slavery movements were more embedded in the culture of the region where the individual grew up. Despite strong political ties to the slavery debate most Union troops, even those who considered themselves loyal Democrats, nothing could make a platform that opposed emancipation and the war palatable

because the war had established emancipation and Union as national necessities, not legitimate grounds for partisan debate (Manning, 150). The political difference were only a portion of the reason many citizens continued the fight and why the allocation of the brutalities of the war continued. In most wars, especially one with so much brutality to such a large percentage of the population, the desire for the war to end quickly would outweigh the wishes of one side. The brutality was allowed to continue because there was a deeper meaning to the fight. Since 1861, countless troops had insisted that they fought to preserve liberty and freedom as universal ideals applicable to all humanity, and to sustain the United States government as a way of proving to a world that desired but doubted its success that an elected republic government could survive. By 1864 Union soldiersdid not abandon the core of their convictions, or their anger at Confederates for betraying vital principles that the United States was based around (Manning, 151). Not all of the carnage encountered could be deeply seeded in the desire for a successful America. Many of the major battles with the greatest casualties were because of religious beliefs. The Bible was interpreted by both the North and the South to be a guiding principle for their battle. religion in some sense enabled the slaughter of many soldiers. Religion also took away the idea of Hell for a soldier and that his glorious death would save him from the punishments of Hell and send him to Heaven. This Courage in immortality could encourage soldiers to risk annihilation and was often discovered as a source of courage for many soldiers (Faust, 175). The desire for peace through a complete Union, the immortality found in deep religion, and the freedom to fight help to explain why the individuals exposed to the war

would have chosen to continue the fight. Despite the most dangerous and challenging conditions these soldiers faced, they continued to fight because it was the right thing to do.