For most of the 160 years since the Civil War was fought, what was considered important about ordinary soldiers was that they fought, not what they fought for. In order to promote sectional harmony and reconciliation between North and South after the war, political and social leaders emphasized the valor of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. They chose to remember shared experiences and values like service, military strength, and sacrifice, rather than focusing on the very different political, social, and moral causes for which Civil War soldiers fought. We think, however, that it is critically important to understand why men (and occasionally women) joined their respective armies and engaged in such a long, bloody, and costly conflict. It is clear from soldiers' letters and actions that competing ideas of race, class, and citizenship were central to the conflict.Â
One of the enduring questions about soldiers' motivations in the war is why did so many non-slaveholding white southerners join the Confederate cause? While it is true that a nascent Southern nationalism played a role for some, understanding the motivations of non-elite white southerners opens a window into mid-nineteenth century ideas about social mobility, class, and race. For white southerners, to get ahead meant to purchase a slave, build up capital, purchase more enslaved people, and to strive towards the economic, social, and political power of the plantation-owning gentry. This is why so many southerners struck out for cheaper lands in newly opened territories, bringing enslaved people and rending enslaved communities in the East, during the 1820s and 1830s; it is why so many supported the war with Mexico in the 1840s and fought bloody conflicts in Kansas in the 1850s. They hoped that new lands would offer new opportunities to get in the slave-holding, plantation-buidling game. This truth about social mobility in the antebellum South, and its dependence on the enslavement of black Americans, explains the quick and fierce loyalty to the Confederate cause on the part of so many poor whites: they fought to preserve slavery in order to preserve their chance to climb the social and economic ladders of their world. Looking at the motivations of white southern soldiers helps students understand the antebellum society they fought to maintain.
When we teach about the motivations of ordinary soldiers, we also see that the North was far from unified in its support for the war. Many disagreed with President Lincoln's aims throughout the conflict—to some he was a tyrant, pushing the nation into a war it did not want, while for others, Lincoln's desire to "preserve the union" did not go far enough in guaranteeing the end of slavery and the citizenship of African Americans. The issuance of the National Conscription Act in 1863 stoked class tensions, as poor and working-class men, many of them immigrants, were drafted into the Union army. Further inflaming tensions was the law's provision that allowed anyone who could pay $300 to avoid military service. In July 1863, violent anti-draft riots broke out in New York City, where a mostly working-class Irish immigrant contingent burned and looted the Colored Orphans Asylum and the draft office, and lynched African Americans. At least a dozen were killed before the riot was quelled by the arrival of Union troops, weary from their recent battle at Gettysburg. The draft riots underscore that deep divisions of race and class were alive and well in the North, as well as the South, and that the war, rather than solving these problems, exacerbated them.
In an 1864 letter to Abraham Lincoln, James Shorter, writing on behalf of his fellow soldiers in the 55th Massachusetts regiment, summarized the motivations of many black soldiers: "We came to fight For Liberty justice & Equality" [sic]. Although initially denied the opportunity to serve in the Union army, African Americans continually put pressure on government and military leaders to enlist black soldiers. After they were finally allowed to join, more than 200,000 black men signed up. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, refused to accept lower wages than white soldiers were paid. In their letters and acts of protest, black soldiers repeatedly claimed that they were entitled to equal and fair treatment to white soldiers. Further, they affirmed their right to enjoy the full privileges of citizenship because of their shared participation in the military struggle. Black soldiers often pointed out that they did not passively wait for freedom to be granted but, as soldiers, helped to win the war that ended slavery.
The most valuable and reliable information of the enemy’s movement in our vicinity that we have been able to get derived from Negroes who came into our lines....
They will submit to any privation, perform any duty, incur any danger. I know an instance in which four of them recently carried a boat from Rappahannock River, passing through the enemy’s pickets successfully, to the Potomac and crossed over to my camp and reported themselves there. They gave us information of the enemy’s force which was communicated to headquarters; a service upon which it would be difficult to fix a price. These services rendered by these men are known to the soldiers, and contribute, I presume, largely to the sympathy they feel for them....
There was one case in the 5th regiment where a man named Cox claimed some slaves. He was very badly treated by the soldiers. He came there with an order from the division headquarters for two or three slaves. He pointed out who they were and undertook to take them away; but the soldiers pounced upon him and beat him severely.... He went away without his slaves.
Students will analyze primary sources to determine why African-American soldiers fought in the Civil War. Â
Students will be able to describe the motivations of black soldiers in the Civil War.Â
In January 1863 with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln invited African Americans to serve in the Union Army as soldiers for the first time. African Americans responded enthusiastically to Union recruitment; nearly two hundred thousand had enlisted by spring of 1865, nearly eight percent of whom came from slave states. By the end of the war, African-American soldiers comprised ten percent of the Union Army. These new recruits helped ensure that nothing short of universal emancipation would be the outcome of the war. African-American troops distinguished themselves in the war and gained the respect of white officers and soldiers as they helped determine the outcome of key battles.Â
Nevertheless, African-American soldiers felt the effects of continuing racism as they were kept in segregated camps, given the most menial jobs, treated as inferiors, and paid less than white soldiers. Widespread protests against pay inequity compelled the War Department to equalize wages in June 1864. In the process many black soldiers realized that their fight was not only against southern slavery, but against northern discrimination as well.
Step 1: Divide students into small groups of 2-4. Â Have students read through all of the letters once to get an initial impression of their topics, issues, and language; the teacher may choose to read aloud all the letters with the entire class. Then, in their groups, students should each select one or two letters to analyze more closely. Make sure that each letter has been selected by at least one person in the group.
Step 2: Have students read through the letters carefully and take notes to answer the questions in the Letter Analysis worksheet. Â Ask students to note other questions they may have about the letters, the authors' use of language, and the authors' descriptions of soldiers' experiences. Â
"I sympathize deeply," said Dr. Harris, “in the objects of this Society. I fought, my hearers, for the liberty which you enjoy. It surprises me that every man does not rally at the sound of liberty, and array himself with those who are laboring to abolish slavery in our country. The very mention of it warms the blood in my veins, and, old as I am, makes me feel something of the spirit and impulses of ’76.
"Then liberty meant something. Then, liberty, independence, freedom, were in every man's mouth. They were the sounds at which they rallied, and under which they fought and bled. They were the words which encouraged and cheered them through their hunger, and nakedness, and fatigue, in cold and in heat. The word slavery then filled their hearts with horror. They fought because they would not be slaves. Those whom liberty has cost nothing, do not know how to prize it.
"I served in the Revolution, in General Washington's army, three years under one enlistment. I have stood in battle, where balls, like hail, were flying all around me. The man standing next to me was shot by my side—his blood spouted upon my clothes, which I wore for weeks. My nearest blood, except that which runs in my veins, was shed for liberty. My only brother was shot dead instantly in the Revolution. Liberty is dear to my heart—I cannot endure the thought, that my countrymen should be slaves.
"But I have another object in view in stating these facts. I would not be trumpeting my own acts; the only reason why I have named myself in connection with this transaction is, to show that I know whereof I affirm. There was a black regiment in the same situation. Yes, a regiment of negroes, fighting for our liberty and independence,—not a white man among them but the officers,— stationed in this same dangerous and responsible position. Had they been unfaithful, or given way before the enemy, all would have been lost. Three times in succession were they attacked, with most desperate valor and fury, by well disciplined and veteran troops, and three times did they successfully repel the assault, and thus preserve our army from capture. They fought through the war. They were brave, hardy troops. They helped to gain
"Now, the war is over, our freedom is gained—what is to be done with these colored soldiers, who have shed their best blood in its defence? Must they be sent off out of the country, because they are black? or must they be sent back into slavery, now they have risked their lives and shed their blood to secure the freedom of their masters? I ask, what became of these noble colored soldiers? Many of them, I fear, were taken back to the South, and doomed to the fetter and the chain.
"And why is it, that the colored inhabitants of our nation, born in this country, and entitled to all the rights of freemen, are held in slavery? Why, but because they are black? I have often thought, that, should God see fit, by a miracle, to change their color, straighten their hair, and give their features and complexion the appearance of the whites, slavery would not continue a year. No, you would then go and abolish it with the sword, if it were not speedily done without. But is it a suitable cause for making men slaves, because God has given them such a color, such hair and such features, as he saw fit?"