Views of The Confederate War

Gallagher develops his thesis in four chapters that give an account of how the notions of secession and confederacy took hold of and remained prominent in the popular imagination in the South in the years of the Civil War. In the chapter titled "A People's Will," the main evidence is what is on the record, namely, the fact that some 80% of all able-bodied and age-appropriate (white) men volunteered for military service in the Confederacy. Gallagher discounts the view that the material hardship that the war worked on the populace of the South caused Southerners to lose morale in the Confederate war effort. Rather, he takes the view that hardship hardened the "resolve" of the great mass of people in the South: "By the end of 1863, prolonged resistance against an enemy with seemingly unlimited manpower and industrial capacity had created among many Confederates a sense of accomplishment against long odds and a determination to carry on the fight" (p. 157). He cites commentary to this eff

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oes not drop the point that "a sense of reciprocal obligation" and anticipation of southern independence also made enlisted men loyal to the Confederate cause. In particular Gallagher notes the nationalist rallying power of such figures as Robert E. Lee, as well as the "patriotic steadfastness" of Southern women, not only in respect of the war effort but also in respect of the humiliation of Yankee occupation as the Union solidified its control of all American territory. Gallagher also finds evidence of what must be interpreted as Confederate military valor. That is, in service of the nationalist/Confederate cause, officers exhibited leadership qualities by continually exposing themselves and not just the men under their command to danger, as if only a mythically binding ideal could explain such motivation and dedication. In the chapter on Confederate military strategy, Gallagher makes a case for the importance of symbols to the project of reinforcing Southern morale on one hand and depleting Union morale on the other. To put it another way: It was important for Southern forces to win victories on the battlefields because only victories would enable the South to guarantee its nationhood. Noting that numerous historians have criti
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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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