When Did the Morale of the Confederate Soldier Start to Collapse?

Reconstructed Rebel · Jun 4, 2026

This question is inspired by the two quotes below. This Union officer at least, who was part of Sherman's drive to Atlanta, began to notice a difference in the early fall of 1864.

August 31
…….I can't guess what their loss is, though it is not as heavy as on the 22nd or 28th of July, for they did not fight nearly as well. Besides losing a host of men this campaign, the Rebel army has lost a large measure of vim, which counts a good deal in soldiering.
Page 118

Sept. 2nd. 6 miles S. of Jonesboro.
At daylight our skirmish line moved forward and found the Rebs. gone. When our boys reached the R. R. a train of cars was just loading some wounded ; the boys made for it, but it outran them. They left a number of their wounded, and when the 14th broke them on the 1st, we captured several hospitals, in one of which were several officers. I saw in a hole by 1 hospital two legs and three arms. One can't help pitying these Rebel soldiers. They have been whipped here until they have lost all spirit. They don't fight with any spirit when they are attacked and it's more like a butchery than a battle…..
Page 120

I have a feeling that citizens at home may have hung on to hope for a lot longer than the men in the field.

Source:

Reminiscences of the Civil War : United States. Army. Illinois Infantry Regiment, 103rd (1862-1865) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

293 p

archive.org

Josh The Lighthouse Guy · Jun 5, 2026

In Virginia, it seems to have been Wilmington's fall and the news of Sherman marching seemingly unopposed from Atlanta to Savannah that caused the ANV to begin hemorrhaging deserters.

In Georgia, Hood taking over was immediately followed by two bloody disasters. The rout at Jonesboro suggests, as noted by the OP, that AOT morale was not good. After Franklin and Nashville the only soldiers left for transport to North Carolina were diehards.

In the Trans-Mississippi, morale that had been boosted in early 1864 by the repulse of Banks and Steele was probably deflated by the failure of Price's Raid. Word was also trickling in of things farther east. As noted in another recent thread, when they got word that Lee and Johnston had surrendered, the soldiers were done and ready to go home.

TheGenZFederal · Jun 5, 2026

JackADriscoll said:
I think it was probably regional. The Western maybe after Atlanta. The eastern maybe when Petersburg started? How much did the average soldier know about what was going on in different sectors?

I think Jack is headed in the right direction, though I would take it a step further and say it was specific to Department and even Army. Even then, source material suggests morale fluctuated to some degree rather than being a straight line downward. For Example, the Army of Tennessee experienced a noticeable decline of morale after the debacle at Chattanooga in November of 1863, yet morale seems to have improved somewhat after Bragg was replaced with Joseph E. Johnston in December of 1863. Morale would again fall after the heavy losses around Atlanta, and the loss of the City under John Bell Hood in 1864.

leftyhunter · Jun 5, 2026

genbeau said:
You spin quite a tale. My congratulations.

To all those who liked the the above silly post were you to lazy tolook it up to see if my reply was true?
Leftyhunter

JerryD · Jun 5, 2026

TheGenZFederal said:
I think Jack is headed in the right direction, though I would take it a step further and say it was specific to Department and even Army. Even then, source material suggests morale fluctuated to some degree rather than being a straight line downward. For Example, the Army of Tennessee experienced a noticeable decline of morale after the debacle at Chattanooga in November of 1863, yet morale seems to have improved somewhat after Bragg was replaced with Joseph E. Johnston in December of 1863. Morale would again fall after the heavy losses around Atlanta, and the loss of the City under John Bell Hood in 1864.

I remember also that there was a religious revival that swept through the CSA armies mid war, and I suspect that helped sustain morale for awhile. But I still think the general trend was downward.

leftyhunter · Jun 5, 2026

genbeau said:
You spin quite a tale. My congratulations.

I don't have time for liars .
Leftyhunter

BuckPvt · Jun 5, 2026

leftyhunter said:
By the summer of 1862 when Confedrate desertions increased every month thereafter.
Leftyhunter

Do you know of any good articles or books that cover this? It's something I've never really seen covered, except in relation to individual campaigns.

JeffBrooks · Jun 5, 2026

35th MA InfRegt said:
Probably in the fall of 1864. First, there's the fall of Atlanta. Then there's Sheridan in the Valley, followed by the re-election of Lincoln. Next Hood is routed at Nashville and that is followed by Sherman turning up at Savannah, Georgia, army intact fresh from his March and ready to do the same to the Carolinas. After all that, Confederate morale must have been in freefall with absolutely no hope of recovery.

I pretty much agree with this. As much as Gettysburg/Vicksburg are seen as the "turning point of the war", there was a clear Confederate resurgence in early 1864. Many Southerners expressed optimism and hopes for victory as the 1864 campaigning season began. The men of the AoNV still had faith in Lee, while the men of the AoT saw in Johnston a man who cared about their welfare and wouldn't needlessly waste their lives. Before the campaign began, they could look at victories such as Olustee in Florida, Plymouth in North Carolina, and the Red River Campaign in Louisiana. And when the campaign began, though there were no Chancellorsville of Chickamauga-level victories, they seemed to be holding their own in both theaters. Neither army was defeated and both Atlanta and Richmond held out. Jubal Early even came close to capturing Washington City itself, for goodness's sake. Everyone knew the 1864 election in the North would be decisive, and many Confederates still maintained high hopes for ultimate success.

It was the relentless pounding by Grant and Sherman that wore the Confederates down in the end. There was no big moment at which Confederate morale collapsed. It was more like gradually filling a bucket with rocks until it became too heavy to hold up. The Southerners could fight as hard as they could, and even win tactical victories such as Second Ream's Station or Kennesaw Mountain, but they never could actually defeat the Yankees. Meanwhile, they got hungrier, their clothes and shoes became more threadbare, the letters from home became more desperate, and they slowly lost heart.

In late summer, you have the season of Union victories - Mobile Bay, Atlanta, the Shenandoah. You have the reelection of Lincoln, which sealed the Confederacy's fate in the eyes of any rational human being. And Sherman began ripping the guts out of Georgia against no opposition.

If you have to peg a date, I would say November of 1864. But the decline had begun a few months earlier, in July/August.

KevMcNJ · Jun 5, 2026

I would assume Confederate soldiers seeing how well fed, clothed and supplied the Union dead, wounded and captured soldiers were would make a hungry and sometimes barefoot Confederate think WTF am I doing here?

I doubt Johnny dropped too many F-bombs of course. Perhaps Im wrong about that.

KevMcNJ · Jun 5, 2026

JeffBrooks said:
I pretty much agree with this. As much as Gettysburg/Vicksburg are seen as the "turning point of the war", there was a clear Confederate resurgence in early 1864. Many Southerners expressed optimism and hopes for victory as the 1864 campaigning season began. The men of the AoNV still had faith in Lee, while the men of the AoT saw in Johnston a man who cared about their welfare and wouldn't needlessly waste their lives. Before the campaign began, they could look at victories such as Olustee in Florida, Plymouth in North Carolina, and the Red River Campaign in Louisiana. And when the campaign began, though there were no Chancellorsville of Chickamauga-level victories, they seemed to be holding their own in both theaters. Neither army was defeated and both Atlanta and Richmond held out. Jubal Early even came close to capturing Washington City itself, for goodness's sake. Everyone knew the 1864 election in the North would be decisive, and many Confederates still maintained high hopes for ultimate success.

It was the relentless pounding by Grant and Sherman that wore the Confederates down in the end. There was no big moment at which Confederate morale collapsed. It was more like gradually filling a bucket with rocks until it became too heavy to hold up. The Southerners could fight as hard as they could, and even win tactical victories such as Second Ream's Station or Kennesaw Mountain, but they never could actually defeat the Yankees. Meanwhile, they got hungrier, their clothes and shoes became more threadbare, the letters from home became more desperate, and they slowly lost heart.

In late summer, you have the season of Union victories - Mobile Bay, Atlanta, the Shenandoah. You have the reelection of Lincoln, which sealed the Confederacy's fate in the eyes of any rational human being. And Sherman began ripping the guts out of Georgia against no opposition.

If you have to peg a date, I would say November of 1864. But the decline had begun a few months earlier, in July/August.

Looks like we were thinking the same thing at the same time friend.

atlantis · Jun 5, 2026

Morale took a hit when it was learned the 1st conscript act extended the 1 yr enlistments another 2 yrs, then you have the food and pay problems.
Did the loss of territory affect morale?

Aaron Vinson · Jun 5, 2026

Reconstructed Rebel said:
Can you elaborate a bit on that? Was it the food issue or were there other particular struggles at that time?

Really everything tbh. Desertion rates certainly went up from then, probably because the war was closer to home now(I know it was earlier too but now with the early war losses) and food was always an issue. I meant specifically the winter was harsh and cold (Longstreet's men suffered after Knoxville until they returned to Virginia) and we forget the men were just that. Men. My own ancestor deserted after being paroled from Port Hudson(49th Alabama), probably because bad officers and suffering from that siege. Also in September 1863 the Union had reached Northern Alabama and perhaps his reasoning for going to war(protecting his home) had reached the point where that took precedent over the war effort itself as I'm sure many other men had to make similar choices.

Aaron Vinson · Jun 5, 2026

atlantis said:
Morale took a hit when it was learned the 1st conscript act extended the 1 yr enlistments another 2 yrs, then you have the food and pay problems.

Also this. The 49th Enlisted for 1 year in Jan 1862 and after barely any training going into Shiloh, the enlistment changes in April/May 1862 really ****** alot of them off,(the ones that survived) so add another year of war and hardship and its easy to see the result.

genbeau · Jun 5, 2026

leftyhunter said:
I don't have time for liars .
Leftyhunter

leftyhunter · Jun 5, 2026

BuckPvt said:
Do you know of any good articles or books that cover this? It's something I've never really seen covered, except in relation to individual campaigns.

We have quite a few threads on desertion and I will link one.
A good book that covers thus topic in detail is

Bitterly Divided: The South's Inner Civil War

The American Confederacy, David Williams reveals, was i…

www.goodreads.com

Desertion, Cowardice and Punishment - Essential Civil War Curriculum

Thread 'How serious was CSA desertion?' https://civilwartalk.com/threads/how-serious-was-csa-desertion.91068/
Leftyhunter

archieclement · Jun 5, 2026

35th MA InfRegt said:
Probably in the fall of 1864. First, there's the fall of Atlanta. Then there's Sheridan in the Valley, followed by the re-election of Lincoln. Next Hood is routed at Nashville and that is followed by Sherman turning up at Savannah, Georgia, army intact fresh from his March and ready to do the same to the Carolinas. After all that, Confederate morale must have been in freefall with absolutely no hope of recovery.

Indeed would think the fall of Atlanta should been obvious tell to all the Confederacy....though think morale in AoT was declining from JJ continual retreats before that.

bayonet · Jun 5, 2026

leftyhunter said:
Avoiding The Draft, Civil War Style - New York Almanack

While reviewing some Civil War materials, I encountered mention of the NYC Draft Riots, which reminded me of my own experience with the draft.

www.newyorkalmanack.com

You owe me an apology. You couldn't even ask for proof or Google yourself for sources. Instead of a silly off the cuff reply. If your on a history forum you should at least ask for a source.
Leftyhunter

bayonet · Jun 5, 2026

An Army travels on its stomach as the saying goes. Half starved Rebs losing 50 pounds in 2 months marching all over the place (I lost 30 pounds in 2 months in guess what Army school, thank goodness for Redman chewing tobacco the last 2 weeks) with their supply system a disaster. My morale would be in the crapper too. A things I did and the abuse I took when I was in the Army but our Cooks & Chowhall was top notch. Man I miss those Cheese Omelettes they were the greatest. 46 years on and I still can't make one better!

KevMcNJ · Jun 6, 2026

atlantis said:
Morale took a hit when it was learned the 1st conscript act extended the 1 yr enlistments another 2 yrs, then you have the food and pay problems.
Did the loss of territory affect morale?

Ive gotten PO'd at jobs in the past when we were told late in the day we had to work an extra hour later and you couldnt say no

35th MA InfRegt · Jun 6, 2026

KevMcNJ said:
Ive gotten PO'd at jobs in the past when we were told late in the day we had to work an extra hour later and you couldnt say no

You wanna know about bad morale? Try being the guy on the 3-11 shift (only person on duty) whose replacement doesn't bother showing up, and now an eight hour shift has become a sixteen hour shift without prior notice.

Aaron Vinson · Jun 6, 2026

35th MA InfRegt said:
You wanna know about bad morale? Try being the guy on the 3-11 shift (only person on duty) whose replacement doesn't bother showing up, and now an eight hour shift has become a sixteen hour shift without prior notice.

sounds like desertion is CERTAINLY a viable option

When Did the Morale of the Confederate Soldier Start to Collapse?

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