Common soldiers
Federals and Confederates
in camp and in battle
Three million men served in the Union and
Confederate armies, the majority of whom
enlisted during the first two years of the war.
They hailed from widely disparate
backgrounds. Muster rolls reveal more than
100 pre-war occupations for Confederate
soldiers and more than 300 for their
northern counterparts. The 19th Virginia
Infantry, for example, counted among its
original members 302 farmers, 80 laborers,
56 machinists, 24 students, 14 teachers,
ten lawyers, three blacksmiths, two artists, a
distiller, a well-digger, a janitor, a dentist,
and a quartet of men who identified
themselves as gentlemen (the entire roster of
occupations is too long to enumerate). Most
northern regiments would have been even
more diverse, though about half of the
North's volunteers were farmers.
The typical soldier on each side was
unmarried, white, native born, Protestant
and between 18 and 24 years old. But
many men younger then 18 served (some
10-14-year-olds as drummer boys or in other
capacities), as did thousands of men in
their thirties and forties (a few volunteered
in their fifties, sixties and even seventies).
First- or second-generation immigrants,
mostly Germans or Irish, accounted for
about one-quarter of the Union's soldiers.
Foreign-born men made up just 9 per cent
of the Confederate forces. Although more
than 175,000 black soldiers served in the
Union armies before the end of the war,
virtually none fought in the Eastern
Theater between First Manassas and the
Chancellorsville campaign.
It is difficult to generalize about what
motivated such a large body of men to enlist
and fight. Ideology certainly played a major
role. Federals and Confederates used many of
the same words to explain their actions,
though the words could have different
meanings. Many Union men spoke of liberty
and the republican ideals for which the
Revolutionary War generation had waged its
struggle for independence. 'Our Fathers
made this country,' an Ohio soldier
remarked, 'we, their children are to save it.
... Without Union & peace our freedom is
worthless.' Untold other northerners fought
to defend the sanctity of a Union they saw as
a priceless democratic example. 'I do feel
that the liberty of the world is placed in our
hands to defend,' averred a Massachusetts
private in 1862, 'and if we are overcome
then farewell to freedom.'
Confederates also mentioned their
Revolutionary forebears, as when a North
Carolinian urged his father to 'compare our
situation and cause to those of our illustrious
ancestors who achieved the liberties we have
ever enjoyed and for which we are now
contending.' Thousands of southern soldiers,
whether slaveholders or yeomen farmers,
battled to defend their homes and the right
to order their society as they saw fit. Just
before the Battle of Chancellorsville, a
member of the 44th Virginia Infantry
described the conflict as 'a struggle between
Liberty on one side, and Tyranny on the
other' and vowed to uphold the 'holy cause
of Southern freedom.'
Beyond ideology or patriotism, men joined
the army out of boredom or because of peer
or community pressure. Others undoubtedly
sought to participate in what they viewed as
a great adventure or to pursue military glory
that would impress their family and
neighbours. From the outset, some white
volunteers in the North saw the war as a
crusade against slavery. The desire to
maintain a robust masculine identity also
figured in decisions to enlist. Mid-nineteenth-
century American culture taught that it was a
man's responsibility to his nation and family