Union Soldiers in the Civil War

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The Union Army was initially relatively small. The primary reason for this is the caution of the Founding Fathers who viewed the large military force as a threat to democracy. As a result, at the beginning of the Civil War the Union had a rather small army of 26 to 27 thousand men, who were decentralized (Richter, 2009). This was obviously far from enough, so at the initial stage, Abraham Lincoln announced the need for 75000 volunteers.

The volunteering process required an influential local figure, who had a rank of captain, to persuade citizens to join his company and thus form a military unit. In this way, it was hoped to assure the popular support of the army, which was consistent with the decentralized nature of the country of the time. However, it soon became clear that besides creating the opportunity for the political patronage, the system was unable to provide the required number of soldiers.

First, a formidable part of the officer corps were reluctant to fight for Union, and instead joined the Confederate forces. Second, the volunteers did not come in sufficient amounts, primarily for the lack of motivation. As a result, the government has issued a military draft to make up for shortages of forces. For the soldiers, this had several adverse outcomes. First, the ranks of volunteers, who were all motivated and conscious fighters, was now flooded with conscripts.

Some of the volunteers perceived that the soldiers who were drafted against their will were not good enough on a battlefield, which was not totally unreasonable. As a result, the tension arose among soldiers. Second, conscription gave way to bounty jumping – a practice of accepting payment for serving as a substitute, then deserting and repeating the process in the other regiment for as long as it was possible to escape responsibility (Faust, 1991).

Finally, many people interpreted the draft as the violation of human rights and infringement of personal liberties. In addition to this, the situation was complicated by the unfairness of treatment of the soldiers. Some reports indicate the class-based inequity, where the doctors diagnosed perfectly healthy individuals unfit for service after a fabricated examination while other physically unfit men were sent to the frontlines, mostly favoring rich and influential and putting the immigrants and simple folk at a disadvantage.

While all of the issues had adverse effects on morale of the troops, the latter issue was the primary cause of the draft riots, in particular, the New York Draft Riots of 1863. The Irish immigrants, dismayed with the prospect of the conscription, went out on the streets express their dissatisfaction with it. Unfortunately, the riot ended up as a hostile action against black population: the selective interpretation of the cause of the Civil War has resulted in the perception that the freed slaves would move North and create even more unfavorable conditions for the Irish immigrants (Richter, 2009).

Not surprisingly, the black population itself suffered from unfair treatment the most. Despite proving themselves able and reliable soldiers from the very beginning of the war, in particular in the battle of Fort Wagner, they were treated harshly until the end of war both by their brothers in arms and the officers, paid less for their service, and in a culminating controversial move, were no allowed to participate in a victory parade in Washington, D.C. (Lardas, 2012)

It must be said, however, that despite the current view, very few of the Union soldiers were actively interested in black population rights. The preserved diaries and letters of the Union soldiers show little concern with the slavery movement. Instead, many of them show concerns of political origin, in particular, the self-governance of the Union and the change the Confederation can bring as a result of their rebellion (Plumb, 2011). Naturally, not all of the soldiers exhibited political savvy, but from those who did, very few cared about the rights of slaves.

The described situation naturally suggests the unrest inside the ranks of the Union Army. The ethnic diversity and the antipathy between volunteers and conscripts were further aggravated by the poor resource supply, unfavorable natural conditions, lack of purpose for some of the soldiers, and, finally, the poor performance on the early stage and the prospect of defeat. As a result, desertion was massive among the Union ranks.

In two first years, which were the harshest for the Union, the estimated 150000 of soldiers deserted the battlefield (Faust, 1991). Some of these were “bounty jumpers” mentioned above, but the majority was trying to avoid death or detested war as pointless. The desertion was also prompted by the poor condition of clothing. While it is generally recognized that the Union had access to a better equipment thanks to the industrial advantage, it only mattered at the initial stage. Later in the course of war, when the supply lines thinned and some of the units were cut from them altogether, it was not uncommon to see soldiers marching barefoot.

In all, the conditions of the Union soldiers were largely unfavorable. The usual hardships of wartime, coupled with complicated social, ethnic, and political conditions created the pressure that resulted in massive desertions and low morale.

References

Faust, P. (1991). Historical times illustrated encyclopedia of the civil war. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.

Lardas, M. (2012). African American soldier in the civil war. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Plumb, R. (2011). Your brother in arms: a union soldier’s odyssey. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

Richter, W. (2009). The A to Z of the civil war and reconstruction. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

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Union Soldiers in the Civil War

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