The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War Armies (Littlefield History of the Civil War Era)

How did Civil War soldiers endure the brutal and unpredictable existence of army life during the conflict? This question is at the heart of Peter S. Carmichael's sweeping new study of men at war. Based on close examination of the letters and records left behind by individual soldiers from both the North and the South, Carmichael explores the totality of the Civil War experience--the marching, the fighting, the boredom, the idealism, the exhaustion, the punishments, and the frustrations of being away from families who often faced their own dire circumstances. Carmichael focuses not on what soldiers thought but rather how they thought. In doing so, he reveals how, to the shock of most men, well-established notions of duty or disobedience, morality or immorality, loyalty or disloyalty, and bravery or cowardice were blurred by war. Digging deeply into his soldiers' writing, Carmichael resists the idea that there was "a common soldier" but looks into their own words to find common threads in soldiers' experiences and ways of understanding what was happening around them. In the end, he argues that a pragmatic philosophy of soldiering emerged, guiding members of the rank and file as they struggled to live with the contradictory elements of their violent and volatile world. Soldiering in the Civil War, as Carmichael argues, was never a state of being but a process of becoming. Based On Close Examination Of The Letters And Records Left Behind By Individual Soldiers From Both The North And The South, Carmichael Explores The Totality Of The Civil War Experience--the Marching, The Fighting, The Boredom, The Idealism, The Exhaustion, The Punishments, And The Frustrations Of Being Away From Families Who Often Faced Their Own Dire Circumstances-- Comrades, Camp, And Community -- Providence And Cheerfulness -- Writing Home -- Courage And Cowardice -- Desertion And Military Justice -- Facing The Enemy And Confronting Defeat -- The Trophies Of Victory And The Relics Of Defeat. Peter S. Carmichael. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 357-379) And Index. How did Civil War soldiers endure the brutal and unpredictable existence of army life? This question is at the heart of Peter S. Carmichael’s sweeping study of men at war. Digging deeply into soldier letters, Carmichael focuses not on what soldiers thought, but rather on how they thought. He resists the idea that there was “a common” experience but looks into their own words to find shared threads in soldiers’ experiences. "Based on close examination of the letters and records left behind by individual soldiers from both the North and the South, Carmichael explores the totality of the Civil War experience--the marching, the fighting, the boredom, the idealism, the exhaustion, the punishments, and the frustrations of being away from families who often faced their own dire circumstances"-- Provided by publisher Contents 8 Introduction 14 1 Comrades, Camp, and Community 30 2 Providence and Cheerfulness 79 3 Writing Home 113 4 Courage and Cowardice 145 5 Desertion and Military Justice 187 6 Facing the Enemy and Confronting Defeat 243 7 The Trophies of Victory and the Relics of Defeat 279 Epilogue 316 Acknowledgments 330 Notes 338 Bibliography 370 Index 394