Motivations of the Northern and Southern soldiers during the Civil War
The cause of the American civil war has been an essential topic of research and discussion for many scholars over the years. However, what has been of low interests to most scholars is the personal experiences and the personal motives that made the individual soldiers join the war and endure in it. The different motivations and experiences that made individual soldiers continue fighting have been brought out in the various letters and diaries they sent to their families, according to James M. McPherson (McPherson, 311). Although they had various reasons for writing to their families, “When they talk about why they are risking their lives, however, they reveal the heart of the conflict.” Different factors inspired the soldiers from both sides to join the war. The soldiers from the different parties had different points of view on slavery.
During the early years of the American civil war, the Northern soldiers fought as a sign of loyalty to Lincoln’s slave abolishment policy; as a sign of allegiance to the Union. From the individual letters of the northern soldiers, they are fighting to preserve the Union, and if that meant fighting to abolish slavery, it is worth it. They have to fight for the abolishment of slavery, so us to preserve the Union and also fight for emancipation to prevent division amongst themselves as is evident from one of the letters McPherson read (McPherson, 316). However, liberation brought divergent views amongst the Northern soldiers since some felt like they are fighting for the black man. Also, familiarities in the South on the brutality that the slaves are being inflicted on made some Northern soldiers feel that slavery abolishment is the right thing to fight for in the civil war.
As the war continued, there was a need to support emancipation to favour the success of the policy. Subduing slavery traditions is the best remedy for this to happen. The antislavery and the pragmatics had just the right course of action in mind to suppress the slavery institutions. They merged to strengthen their view towards those in the North who encouraged slavery. The Union between the antislavery and pragmatism lead to the appropriation of the rebel properties to weaken the slavery institutions. As James M. McPherson discloses from one of the letters from the colonel of 5th Minnesota, “Crippling the institution of slavery is striking a blow at the heart of the rebellion” (McPherson, 317). Although other soldiers tend to show disagreement to the emancipation proclamation, the efforts that were put in place played a critical role in slavery abolishment.
The South had felt that the slave abolition is against their rights, and it is meant to bring the South down. Being a cotton dependent economy, the South utilized slave labour and abolishing slavery only means bad news to them. The South decided to secede from the Union, and the soldiers formed a Confederate. The Southern soldiers were, therefore, fighting for the preservation of slavery and its continuity since, without their labour, the country will be valueless. According to James McPherson, one of the Southern soldiers affirms that they are fighting for not freeing the Negroes and for their ancestral properties. The Confederate soldiers confirmed in the letters they wrote that they are fighting for their freedom and against slavery. “Sooner than to submit to the Northern slavery I prefer death,” wrote one of the Confederate soldiers to his wife (McPherson, 313).
In conclusion, the motives of the soldiers on different sides during the Civil War shows that the soldiers joined the war and endure in it because of different reasons. As much as slavery was the leading cause of the civil war in the first place, the individuals’ letters from the soldiers disclosed a shocking revelation of different reasons the soldiers had to go into the battle according to McPherson.
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