For Cause and Comrades Essay
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Louisiana State University *
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2056
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History
Date
Dec 6, 2023
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docx
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5
Uploaded by CorporalSnow8199
Peyton Owens Prof. Mark Carson
HIST 2055
2 May 2023
For Cause and Comrades
Essay
James McPherson has spent the majority of his professional life searching for and uncovering the true motivations behind the actions of the many men who served in the bloodiest war in American history. In a remarkably lucid and touching manner, the author has evaluated the many different- yet somehow still intertwining- motivators behind the forces of the Northern and Southern armies. He focused more on the personal letters and diaries of the soldiers rather than the published journalism to explore the emotional aspects of motivation in the lives of the soldiers. Early in For Cause and Comrades
McPherson introduces the general, widely-accepted reasons for passion behind the fights of the Civil War– soldiers on both sides were primarily motivated by a strong sense of duty, honor, and religious faith, which influenced their actions and
sustained their commitment to their respective causes. In April 1861, Americans decided the principles of liberty, freedom, justice, and patriotism were under enough of a threat to induce the infamous Civil War. However, even with similar motivations, the overall goals for both sides in the war differ greatly. For the South, the word “liberty” symbolizes a booming economy at the hands of a growing slave trade industry. If
the South lost the war, slavery would be abolished, and the Southern economy would collapse. However, the only two options remaining for the South if the economy crashed in this time period are starving to death or becoming indebted to the North, and they would accept neither. The Southern soldiers and supporters believed that the war was an intrusion upon their right to
self government, and the Northern side saw their duty in the war as keeping the country together.
The Civil War is recognized as the most devastating war in the history of the country. Studying a war that resulted in over 620,000 American fatalities makes way for the question, “What possessed these men?” James McPherson accounted for 25,000 letters and 250 diaries from soldiers of both sides when addressing this pressing question. The three strongest emerging themes are masculine code, religion, and freedom. The term “masculine code” is used multiple times throughout For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. Men in America associated this code with the ideas of duty and honor. This code was not only followed by the North and South, but it acted as one of the strongest sources of courage for soldiers to follow their personal convictions to serve and to keep
serving after the war progressed. Masculinity played a key role in why soldiers fought with unprecedented passion during the war. The reader can see how the term “masculinity” differed for the two sides through the personal accounts in the diaries and letters kept by the soldiers. While all soldiers treated the Civil War as a way to gain respect from family and peers, McPherson says: “Southerners were more likely to speak of honor: one’s public reputation, one’s
image in the eyes of his peers.” (McPherson 23) On the other hand, Northerners viewed their duty as the honor of keeping the nation together as one. The “masculine code” shamed cowardice during battle, and emphasized the importance of not embarrassing one’s family or morals with cowardly behavior at war. The author gives specific examples of behavior that was considered “dishonorable.” Fleeing a fight, avoiding a fight, faking an illness, and flinching during battle are all different ways to get shamed, and during this time, ruined for life. Soldiers would write letters describing others’ cowardly actions to send to the families at home and therefore prevent the cowardly soldiers from returning home.
A private in the 101st New York showed the reader a raw view of this ruthless mindset on page 8
when he said, “Helping a wounded comrade to the rear was a favorite device to escape further fighting.” (McPherson 8) The soldiers’ acquired sense of the masculine code simultaneously made completing their duties a priority and tied the meanings of honor, courage, and masculinity together. Religion was another prominent motivator for the soldiers of the War Between the States. As a soldier in the bloodiest war of American history, the looming reminder of death forces you to think about the afterlife. Soldiers on both sides of the fight had to believe their own reasoning to be true, and allow themselves to find a hint of hope in the promise of God taking care of his followers that are part of a holy cause against an evil enemy. The armies both viewed Christian fatalism in one of two ways, “with pessimistic or optimistic overtones.” (McPherson 64) The pessimists believe that no matter the results, God’s will always prevails. This brought a sense of peace to some soldiers, allowing them to accept the coming events are already predetermined by God. The optimists lived by the idea that God protects his followers on any and all paths– as long
as they believe the path they follow to be to the glory of God. Outside of the debate of pessimism
versus optimism, all of the religious soldiers appreciated a third-party sense of security. McPherson provides a quote from a soldier leaning on their religion to retain a sense of hope in such dark circumstances. “There were few atheists in the rifle-pits of 1861-1865,” gives a new visual aspect to the reader of the reality for these soldiers. (McPherson 63) When being constantly surrounded by death, destruction, and tragedy turned into the new “normal” for the soldiers by the third year of battle, the idea of faith in a higher-power ignited in the Southern armies. The South acquired significantly more deaths than the North, and soon revival swept all of the southern states in desperate grabs at hope.
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The third prominent source of motivation in the Civil War was freedom, however the definition of freedom is different for the Northern and Southern states. The war was fought between the Union, led by President Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederacy, led by President Jefferson Davis. The goals and motivations of political leaders on both sides varied, but President Abraham Lincoln's primary goal towards the beginning of the war was to maintain the integrity and unity of the United States. He believed that secession by the Southern states was illegal and that the Union should be preserved at all costs. The North’s idea of freedom was a United America. At the discretion of President Jefferson Davis, the Confederate states made it their number one priority to maintain the right to self-govern. They fought for their belief that individual states should have the authority to determine their own laws and policies. The preservation of slavery was also a central tenet of the Confederate cause, because many Southern
politicians and leaders viewed slavery as crucial to the economic system of the South and a fundamental part of their society. In the letters from southern soldiers McPherson evaluated, very
few of them mention slavery in relation with their definition of freedom. In other terms, the South habitually ignored the freedom of slaves to focus on their own. Early in the war both sides of opposition held a narrow, precise view of the definition of freedom. Over the course of the war, President Lincoln came to recognize the moral injustice of slavery, and President Davis began to see the destruction produced from the institution of slavery. The overall purposes of either group never changed, but both parties became more receptive to the other’s ideas over the following four years. Using the letters of only a few thousand soldiers to explain the motivations of 3,000,000 soldiers in the Civil War has several limitations. Overall, a sample of 25,000 letters is not necessarily representative of the entire population of millions of soldiers who served in the Civil
War. The soldiers who wrote letters may have had hidden motivations for doing so, such as proving a higher education level or a particular interest in what type of stories to record. The motivations and perspectives could potentially vary in over 3 million different ways. The motivations of soldiers in any war are complex and multilayered. Different types of people are influenced by personal beliefs, unique experiences, respective socio-economic levels, regional differences, and many other variables. Relying on a limited perspective may not capture the full range of motivations present among the millions who fought in the Civil War.