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Peer Pressure Among Southerners To Fight- Huge Factor
Imagine yourself living in The South- Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,Alabama in 1860-1. You are 16-40 in age. All your friends,siblings, relatives ,parents everyone is fired up and wants to go to War and fight. There is no way you can deny them. In fact if you would have said - "No I believe in The Union" they would have run you out of town on a rail, ostracized you and then thrown you in jail for treason. Looking back more South guys should have refused to fight because the Union was more important then a divided Nation .But that at the time was inconceivable as a logical point. I have always lived in the South. But they made a huge mistake and cost this country too much at the time. One thing that astounds me at the time is even the Women of the South were urging their Sons to go fight and die. Incredible. Oh and here is another fact- their girlfriends and wives considered them cowards and lessor Men if they did not go and join the Confederacy, fight and be brave. And if they came back without legs or arms etc then they were heroes, but there are some cases where their relatives and wives encouraged them to go back and continue without their limbs. This war truly was a very psycho, idiotic, ridiculous and stupid war. But this was not the last as we all know.
Last edited by muzzleloader; 07-25-2006 at 03:37 AM.
The 'patriotic fervour' you descibe fits exactly with England in The Great war in 1914. Mothers and sisters handing out white feathers to men on the home front even after the awful casualties grew, day by day, week by week, month by month.
Men enlisting in 'Pals' battalions, because all their friends were, so then when in combat, entire Districts of our cities were plunged into grief.
The perceived sense of duty may be a mid-Victorian concept, The Napoleanic War didn't have it and in WW2 the 'White Feathers' had gone, but that 'Pressure' in society was very strong from about 1861-1917.
What did happen in WW2 was the maybe not direct peer group pressure but an underlying sense of guilt about letting your comrades down, and not wishing to do so.
In the currency of the time, the standards of the day made it as you describe. When men are together the pressure, to not be seen as 'weak' is strong and the wish to impress your womenfolk is always there. In the old south I guess it was just at the top end of the scale?
Imagine yourself living in The South- Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,Alabama in 1860-1. You are 16-40 in age. All your friends,siblings, relatives ,parents everyone is fired up and wants to go to War and fight. There is no way you can deny them. In fact if you would have said - "No I believe in The Union" they would have run you out of town on a rail, ostracized you and then thrown you in jail for treason.
When the South seceded those that remained loyal to the Union, to the detriment of the South, were traitors to their country and should have joined the Union army.
Quote:
Originally Posted by muzzleloader
Looking back more South guys should have refused to fight because the Union was more important then a divided Nation .
It has always disturbed me when I hear phrases like, “the Union is more important than a divided nation“. My question is, “Why”? It troubles me to think the strength of the U.S. in in her size and numbers. I like to believe there is more to this great country than the number of states she can boast. It reminds me, uncomfortably, of the WBTS where it was proven that “might makes right”. Size matters if you are a bully. Why else would size matter?
Quote:
Originally Posted by muzzleloader
But that at the time was inconceivable as a logical point. I have always lived in the South. But they made a huge mistake and cost this country too much at the time.
The South did not invade the North. So how is it logical that the South made a mistake or that the South cost the country?
Quote:
Originally Posted by muzzleloader
One thing that astounds me at the time is even the Women of the South were urging their Sons to go fight and die. Incredible. Oh and here is another fact- their girlfriends and wives considered them cowards and lessor Men if they did not go and join the Confederacy, fight and be brave. And if they came back without legs or arms etc then they were heroes, but there are some cases where their relatives and wives encouraged them to go back and continue without their limbs.
There seems to be a lot about women that astounds men. Why is it difficult to understand that women were passionate and patriotic and willing to sacrifice their men? Southern women were not going to hang on to the shirt tails of their men and beg them not to go. She considered it her duty to send her man to war with the assurance that she was strong and that all would be well on the home front so as to give her soldier one less thing to worry about. It was the ultimate act of selflessness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by muzzleloader
This war truly was a very psycho, idiotic, ridiculous and stupid war. But this was not the last as we all know.
Name me one war that wasn’t.
__________________ "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names".--J.F.K.
The War Between the States established... This principle that the Federal Government is, through its courts, this final judge of its own powers.
-- Woodrow Wilson
Wild Rose- You cannot say the South did not invade the North. They sure as heck did in Pennsylvania. And since Fort Sumter was a Union Northern Army Base that as well. The Nation we have today is great because of the final outcome of The Civil War. It truly made us a Nation - before that War we were just a loose bunch of States. Otherwise your points are good, but you are somewhat biased from a total Southern viewpoint. My Great Great Grandfather was a Confederate War Vet who lived through the war- born in SC in 1832 and died in Texas in 1909, so I try to be objective. We do thoroughly enjoy your input. Thanks.
Last edited by muzzleloader; 07-26-2006 at 08:06 AM.
Muzzleloader:
The boys in gray didn't have a monopoly on peer pressure. The pressure on the boys in blue must have been equally as great. What if they staged a war and nobody came?
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
When the South seceded those that remained loyal to the Union, to the detriment of the South, were traitors to their country and should have joined the Union army.
It has always disturbed me when I hear phrases like, “the Union is more important than a divided nation“. My question is, “Why”? It troubles me to think the strength of the U.S. in in her size and numbers. I like to believe there is more to this great country than the number of states she can boast. It reminds me, uncomfortably, of the WBTS where it was proven that “might makes right”. Size matters if you are a bully. Why else would size matter?
.
Quite so, governments should fear the people, not the people fear the government, if and when any government tells you what rights you have are no longer yours becuae you cant be trusted with them then its time for the government to be reminded its there for a purpose other than to remove what it was put in place to prtect and preserve.
Union is not a Nation nor a country, its not even a party to the Constition. the EU has no more right to expect a citizen of one member country/nation to fight for it, against the citizens state than did Lincoln.
Peer presure sure existed, only Russaia and Germany in ww2 lost higher % of its men folk in war, but peer pressure always exists in any and all wars, and it alone does not answer the question of why some 25% of CSA adults lost their lives.
Seperation of power is not just the 3 heads of big brother. (and this might **** somone off) You should be for your state first and country second, wouldn't you care what happens in your backyard more than you care what happens in your neighbors back yard?
-Jesse
The problem for the United States is that is a very young nation, and the probability of another Civil conflict is only too real. Americans still do not understand that they are a continent, not a country.
A comment was made of those going off to war.......... lets take this to a different level. What of those that went to war and saw "The Elephant" and didn't like it.They hightailed it out and was either shot right then and there or captured later and faced execution. Was this common among both North and South?
Peer pressure was influential. Few anticipated a long and bloody war and the vast majority of folks both North & South believed that one relatively quick, bloodless battle would resolve the issue and that the boys would be home in time for Christmas.
If that were true, the American Civil War would not have numerous battlefields to visit, specialized publishers and bookstores, a publishing industry that publishes a book daily or at least once a week about the war, thousands of reenactors and living historians, round table discussion groups, gun makers who churn out Springfields, Enfields, and accoutrements, etc. You know, we'd probably be enthusiastic about the Revolution instead.
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Peer Pressure Among Southerners To Fight- Huge Factor 
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