Apart from and beyond the larger political context of the Civil War, each soldier fighting had his own reasons for enlisting despite the realities of the hardships of war. It would be incorrect to say that every soldier fought for the same reason, or fought only for the goals of the government. Contrary to belief, many soldiers did not fight for the purpose of upholding or abolishing slavery.[1] In fact, there are stories of Union soldiers deserting the war effort because they did not want to fight an abolitionist war.[2] Much of the soldiers’ motivation to fight in the war, both in the North and the South, was the result of more personal goals and of social expectations of the Civil War era.

When the North and the South went to war, neither side believed that the war would last long. So caught up in the fever of war, each side was confident that the other would be easily defeated, and any soldier who went to war would be home soon. There was optimism to the war as unseasoned men signed up to become soldiers. Not seeing the war as a lasting event, men felt a bit of safety in signing up to do their brief duty for their cause. Looking at the larger picture, both men in the Union and the Confederacy fought to preserve their government. Men of the North fought for the Union, and fought against the rebels who had rejected the Union and the Constitution. In the Confederacy, soldiers fought for states rights, secession, and their version of the Constitution that would allow them to defend Southern life and Southern institutions.[3]

Soldiers didn’t fight only for the purpose of serving their governments, however. They fought to protect their families, which they felt were threatened along with the land. In addition, men of the Civil War era were faced with a system of values that maintained the ideas of manhood and courage, which were directly linked to war; it was through war that they could gain the respect of their families and peers.[4] Men enlisted because they did not want to be seen as cowards, or to disgrace their families. Honor was especially important in the South, and there was pressure put on young men from their families and communities to enlist for the sake of preserving this honor. Not doing so reflected poorly on them, as well, and stories are told of families lamenting the shame they felt that their men would not go to fight in the war.[5] Worry over what their families would say, the criticism they’d face, would put and keep many men in the war.

War also presented an opportunity for men. In the military, men had the chance to better themselves, to earn money to send home, and to gain status and symbols of rank.[6] The war produced many respectable and successful men who would have otherwise accomplished little on their own. Men enlisted because they had little promise for much at home, and/or because they longed for the prestige of war. As soldiers, men hoped to return home and readily receive the “praise and glory that would justly belong to them as benefactors of the country.”[7] That gave men personal incentive. As they fought the war to protect their families, they also fought to feed their families, as well as to gain the respect that they most likely could not earn as laborers or farmers.

For many soldiers, the war had little to do with politics or the larger goals of the government. Social pressures, the need to protect one’s family, and the promise of personal gain all motivated men to enlist and fight. Just as there was no one cause of the war, there was no one motivation to fight the war. Society at the time heralded courage and honor in men, and it was through serving in the war that men could prove themselves as both brave and honorable. In addition, many felt the war would be over quickly, and men were eager join to gain the respect of a solider without much of the danger and duty involved in long term war; it’s doubtful that many of them expected the war to become what it did.

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Works Cited

McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Perman, Michael, ed. Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.

Roberts, Giselle. The Confederate Belle. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003.

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Endnotes

1 James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 311.

2 Michael Perman, ed., Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 131.

3 James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 309-10.

4 Michael Perman, ed., Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 139 & 151-152.

5 See Giselle Roberts, The Confederate Belle (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003), 46-47 for the personal writings of Sarah on her brother’s refusal to enlist.

6 Michael Perman, ed., Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 137.

7 Ibid, 130.