Reflections on Soldiers' Motivation

kevikens

2nd Lieutenant
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Jun 7, 2013
Location
New Jersey
I just re-reading an old favorite on the American Revolution, the War of the Revolution by Christopher Ward, an older publication but a most readable one in the Kenneth Roberts vein. I was struck by and reflected on the motivation of the men who had to bear up under hardships that are literally incredulous and make me doubt whether I could have borne up under them.
That, of course, got me to thinking about the soldiers of the Civil War and what motivated them to fight in that war. Now I am not talking about the motivation of the politicians or just the high and mighty, whose motives, I suspect, were not those of the average soldier. State governors and legislators, members of both the US and CS Congress, not to say Lincoln and Davis, have had their reasons for fighting examined and parsed and published. And I don't mean the reasons most often adduced, preservation of slavery ( or the destruction of slavery), or preservation of the Union or the establishment of a separate Confederacy. I guess most soldiers would give lip service to those goals but when your position seems hopeless, when you are starving and freezing and shaking (or starving and sweating and thirsting), when you are alone on a picket line at three AM and looking out on the thousands of campfires of an enemy who plans on killing you at daybreak, what prompts you to stick it out, stay at your post, hold you ground, and yes stare death in the face of a 12 lb Napoleon about to belch out a load of canister into your face? At such times what does state's rights or the indissolubility of the Union mean to a soldier?
I guess what I am asking is, because I have difficulty imaging myself doing these things, why did they do this. I know some will argue that if they did not do their duty they would be shot by their own side but desertion, or at least shirking, were available to the feint of heart but even the conscripted showed the kind of resolve and courage that amaze, even baffle me. So what was it that prompted these men to put up with deprivation and hardship and lingering illness and sudden death on an almost daily basis? It's got to be something more visceral than the platitudes, speeches and flag waving. Whatever it was, I wish that I could have such devotion to a cause.
 
I served in an Army much different than my great-great-grandfather's, so I can't speak with authority for that time period. But, in the Army I served in, the motivations for serving were nearly as varied as the individuals having them. Some came in expecting something totally different; some of those adapted to reality, others didn't. Some joined to get away from something else; some joined to find something, or themselves. As the line in the movie goes, 'some of us came because we were ashamed not to; many of us came because it was the right thing to do.' I'll bet that that part of it (the variety of motivations) is not all that different, and at least as hard to generalize about.

ETA: I've never charged a loaded Napoleon or anything like that, of course. But I did accomplish things that I never thought I could, in part because it's what everyone else was doing, and in part because I was personally committed-- "bought in to it," to use a modern phrase.
 
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I served in an Army much different than my great-great-grandfather's, so I can't speak with authority for that time period. But, in the Army I served in, the motivations for serving were nearly as varied as the individuals having them. Some came in expecting something totally different; some of those adapted to reality, others didn't. Some joined to get away from something else; some joined to find something, or themselves. As the line in the movie goes, 'some of us came because we were ashamed not to; many of us came because it was the right thing to do.' I'll bet that that part of it (the variety of motivations) is not all that different, and at least as hard to generalize about.

ETA: I've never charged a loaded Napoleon or anything like that, of course. But I did accomplish things that I never thought I could, in part because it's what everyone else was doing, and in part because I was personally committed-- "bought in to it," to use a modern phrase.
Mark, I always thought you were a Navy guy!
 
Understandable error. I did look at the Navy after high school, but went right to college instead. After that, I had a job I didn't want to get too far away from, so I decided to join the National Guard; walked into the wrong recruiter and went Army Reserve instead; then found to my surprise that I preferred what I was doing in uniform to what I was doing at that time in the civilian world, and switched over to active duty.

(Rest assured I kept up my interest in the Civil War navies the whole time, somewhat to the bemusement of others in the barracks.)

(Reminds me of a few funny stories, but not germane to this thread.)
 
McPherson wrote a book called "For Cause and Comrades" about soldiers' motivations during the CW. Personally, I think the file closers had a lot to do with it, too.
 
I think what kept many a soldier on the field, fighting for so long was that unlike in recent wars, most state volunteer regiments back then were made up of companies raised from generally the same place, the same county. Men and boys who had grown up together or were even family fought side by side. Back then it was cowardice to refuse to fight and many of them were self-conscious at the thought of their friends and family seeing them running from the field. It must have been incredibly stressful on the average soldier because you either fought and took the chance of injury or death, or you ran and were called a 'coward'.
 
I don't think there is a single answer because over a million men served if one combines both armies and since they are all individuals they all have their own story. There are some good memoirs my favorite is"A Southern boy in Blue" the memoirs of Marcus Woodcock who served in the 6th Ky USV and was from Tn. Sam Watkins wrote the classic Company Atch and of course there is Eisha Rhodes memoirs of the 1st Ri USV and I could find buried in my closet one from a Texan who served in Terrys Rangers. The Red Badge of Courage is quite good.

Different demographic groups fought for different reasons i.e blacks to avenge the dishonor of slavery. White Unionists who resented CSA conscription. Irish from the North often joined to prove their loyalty and manhood to those who doubted them vs Irish in the South who felt a kinship with their neighbors in the CSA. Germans in Mo who hated slave owners slave owners and their friends who hated Germans and so on.
Keep in mind many did desert on both sides and many went AWOL and returned.
Leftyhunter
 
I think what kept many a soldier on the field, fighting for so long was that unlike in recent wars, most state volunteer regiments back then were made up of companies raised from generally the same place, the same county. Men and boys who had grown up together or were even family fought side by side. Back then it was cowardice to refuse to fight and many of them were self-conscious at the thought of their friends and family seeing them running from the field. It must have been incredibly stressful on the average soldier because you either fought and took the chance of injury or death, or you ran and were called a 'coward'.
So true. I've read some very nasty exchanges between the Fathers of the boys who initially volunteered and those that put it off until the threat of conscription was fast becoming a reality.
 
I suspect there were plenty of guys who had second thoughts, as well, once they got a taste of what military life and combat were really all about, but by then, it was too late to back out. Obviously, there were deserters, but as others have mentioned, when you're probably serving with a bunch of other guys from your town or neighborhood, you couldn't really pack up and take to the hills if you had any intention of going home again. And, of course, there's the added bond created through shared hardship and suffering- even if you were ready to chuck the whole thing, plenty of soldiers throughout history have stayed and committed acts of incredible bravery for their pards. No one throws himself on a grenade for emancipation or secession or the greater political idea- he does it to save his buddies from getting killed.

And the fact is, people were harder back then. They were used to putting up with a lot of routine discomfort and hardship that most people would balk at today. Obviously, the things that the soldiers of both armies saw and experienced were beyond the pale, but in terms of the campaigning life, I suspect that a lot of soldiers were much better prepared for the privations than any modern person would be likely to be.
 
File closers were the last resort. A more powerful motivation was your buddies, and the conviction that the last thing you would do is welch out on them. (No offense intended for the Welsh. Just a figure of speech.)
 
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