Why did they fight?

[frogbert]

Hi, I am a newbie and need some info to counter the nay sayers. I believe the Civil War from the Southern political stand point was to preserve slavery and states rights. The hundreds of thousand Southern soldiers that fought for the South were to poor to have slaves or didn't want them so why did they fight for the South? I do have ideas but want to be sure before I spout off. Thanks

 

[JOHN42768]

Welcome, enjoy. Be not afraid to express your opinions. They bark a lot, but don't bite

 

[shermans_march]

Welcome!

• 33 percent of households in the South had at least one slave.
• Many poorer whites had hopes of acquiring slaves and becoming planters in the future. Climbing the social ladder as it were.
• Poorer whites weren't the bottom rung of the social ladder if slavery existed.

States rights in regards to slavery hits the nail on the head. States rights by itself is a common answer I get all the time. I answer, "states rights about what?

 

[captaindrew]

Welcome @frogbert

 

[shermans_march]

Welcome, enjoy. Be not afraid to express your opinions. They bark a lot, but don't bite

Kind of hard to bite through the computer monitor. I only attempted it once or twice.

 

[WJC]

Welcome!
In the antebellum South, the way for an aggressive young man to 'make his fortune' was to get a piece of land, buy a slave, build a house and plant cotton. Cheap or free land was available to the west, so the biggest single expense was that first slave.
The prospect that one could not go further west and establish one's self in the new territories in this manner severely restricted upward mobility. Further, the fire-eaters whipped up a fear that somehow slavery- the biggest single asset of a planter- would be taken away. Added to this was a fear of what freed slaves might do to their former owners and their families.
All of this made slavery far and away the single root cause of the rebellion.
The only 'state's rights' Southerners were interested in was the right to own slaves.
I suggest reading the Confederate Constitution and the various secession ordinances- all of which make it clear that continuing to own slaves was the primary concern.
Also, I suggest reading the letters ordinary soldiers sent family or hometown newspapers. See Chandra Manning, What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007).

 

[Rebforever]

Hi, I am a newbie and need some info to counter the nay sayers. I believe the Civil War from the Southern political stand point was to preserve slavery and states rights. The hundreds of thousand Southern soldiers that fought for the South were to poor to have slaves or didn't want them so why did they fight for the South? I do have ideas but want to be sure before I spout off. Thanks

What do you mean by poor? Can you discribe what you mean?

 

[leftyhunter]

Hi, I am a newbie and need some info to counter the nay sayers. I believe the Civil War from the Southern political stand point was to preserve slavery and states rights. The hundreds of thousand Southern soldiers that fought for the South were to poor to have slaves or didn't want them so why did they fight for the South? I do have ideas but want to be sure before I spout off. Thanks

James McPherson has a book about why soldiers fought. I have a thread " why did Southners fight for the Union". Let us keep in mind that per the historian James Current " Lincoln's Loyalists Union soldiers from the Confederacy" Northeastern Press 110 thousand white Southerners fought for the Union. Many had previously fought for the Confederacy. I also have a thread " Unionist vs CSA Guerrillas" many white Southerners deserted the Confederate Army and fought against the Confederacy.
I also have a thread "who has Unionist Ancestors" a fair amount of our posters due and their ancestors fought on both sides.
One of the moderators if you PM them can find threads identical to yours. It's a valid question and frequently debated over the years.
Leftyhunter

 

[Deleted User CS]

Welcome from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In the Ken Burn's Civil War series, Shelby Foote tells the story of a captured Confederate soldier who was asked by his Union captors "why he was fighting?" His reply was "because you northern types are down here." David.

 

[19thGeorgia]

Hi, I am a newbie and need some info to counter the nay sayers. I believe the Civil War from the Southern political stand point was to preserve slavery and states rights. The hundreds of thousand Southern soldiers that fought for the South were to poor to have slaves or didn't want them so why did they fight for the South? I do have ideas but want to be sure before I spout off. Thanks

The South fought because they were invaded.

 

[AUG]

Depends on how you look at it. If they were fighting for the Confederacy then they were fighting for slavery as a whole, but that does not mean every soldier, as an individual, was fighting to preserve it personally. Many enlisted for other reasons and many others were conscripted against their will. Also, the personal reasons that initially drove them to enlist and what kept them fighting might have been for different reasons. At the outset of the war, patriotism, politics, peer pressure, etc. might have convinced them to go to war, but later on the bond they developed with their comrades and their unit might have also been one of the things that kept them going. Many did personally fight for slavery as well, but it should be stated that that was not the sole thing they were all fighting for as individuals.

 

[Drew]

Hi, I am a newbie and need some info to counter the nay sayers. I believe the Civil War from the Southern political stand point was to preserve slavery and states rights. The hundreds of thousand Southern soldiers that fought for the South were to poor to have slaves or didn't want them so why did they fight for the South? I do have ideas but want to be sure before I spout off. Thanks

This question was famously asked of a Confederate soldier during the war. His response?

"Because you're down here."

 

[shermans_march]

The South fought because they were invaded.

I think we have had this discussion before, like a couple a days ago.

 

[SWMODave]

Ask a Gulf War veteran why he went to Iraq. When he is done telling you he did it because his country asked him to go - ask him why the common Southener went to war against the North.

Interesting enough - to some of them - it wasn't because their "new" country asked them, it wasn't to defend their new country, it was to defend slavery.

IMO - slavery was the root cause of the Civil War, but soldiers of the past, like today, went to war for their country and because they were asked.

Welcome to cwt!

 

[major bill]

I have trouble understand why so many people are interested in this subject. My g-g-grandfather die during the war and I can not think of anytime I wondered about why he served. I guess I never even thought about it.

 

[mofederal]

Hello and welcome from Southeast Missouri. You fight for many reasons, your country, your state, your land, money, people, fellow soldiers, comrades and friends. You also can fight for those who cannot. There is also politics. Rich, poor or in between. Men and some women died for a lot of reasons, and they don't even have to make sense. Sometimes it is something you just have to do.

 

[unionblue]

Because they were convinced to do so.

 

[Drew]

Because they were convinced to do so.

By whom and by what force? I'm reminded of the most destructive riots in American history, the 1863 draft riots in New York City. Those guys were not on board with Lincoln. Why not?

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

but want to be sure before I spout off. Thanks

By all means . . . spout off !

Everyone else does.

Search this site, you'll find countless discussions about your question.

Until then, welcome to CivilWarTalk.

 

[Rebforever]

Welcome from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.