McPherson, James M. (1997). For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. (click preceding link for information on purchasing from Amazon) New York: Oxford U. P.

Excerpts permanently located on a Library of Social Science Website here.

40—The first impulse of men under fire is an overwhelming desire to flee the danger. Many soldiers do run away, or cower into frozen immobility. But if discipline or willpower or some other factor nerves them to overcome the impulse to flight, when they go into action the flood of adrenalin turns many soldiers into preternatural killing machines oblivious to danger and fear. This hyped-up behavior has been variously described by psychologists or by soldiers themselves as combat frenzy, fighting madness, or battle rage.

RAK: Hyped-up behavior in battle is not a form of “aggression,” but a response to deep, profound terror: one’s very existence is threatened.

47—The comparison of a private’s lot to that of a slave was a common one—especially among privates. “We are just like Negroes,” wrote an Ohio soldier in 1861, a sentiment echoed by a Mississippi private who had first-hand experience with slavery, for his father was a planter. The major of his regiment ordered the men around “as if they were a lot of negroes. I am in favor of discipline but not of tyranny.”

50—Describing Jackson’s famous flank attack on May 2, this lieutenant wrote home that “at 5 p.m. we commenced our advance upon the enemy. The sharp-shooters were deployed about a hundred yards in the rear of the brigade, with order to shoot every one who fell to the rear, unless wounded.”

This policy seemed to work, if a Northern soldier’s letter to his father is reliable evidence. “I will tell you how the Rebels fight so well,” he wrote in January 1863 at a low point in Union fortunes. They have File Closers behind the Regts. Of Infantry, & if a man falls out of the ranks they shoot him on the spot. Now if our men did the same we should not meet with so many defeats.”

RAK: Well, this is a significant motivation for fighting. If one doesn’t go into battle, one’s own officers will shoot you. Same thing in World War I for the British and World War II for the Nazis: DIE, OR WE WILL KILL YOU.

The Confederates seemed to devise harsher punishments. “This evening our Brigade is ordered out to witness a horrible sight,” wrote a private in the 1^st Virgini, part of Pickett’s division. “One of the 24^th Va. Infantry being tried by court martial for cowardice at the battle of Sharpsburg is condemned to be whipped publicly and then dishonorably dismissed.” The whole brigade stood at attention to watch the ‘wretched creature’ get thirty-nine lashes on his bare back. It was not lost on these Southern soldiers that thirty-nine lashes was a typical punishment for slaves.”

72—The italicized phrases explain how these soldiers overcame their inhibitions: it was a just war, a holy cause against an evil enemy. Both sides believed that God was on their side and that they were doing their duty to God and country by trying to kill the godless enemy.” The letters and diaries of Confederate soldiers contained many such expressions. “We look to God & trust in him to sustain us in this our just cause,” wrote a Florida cavalry captain in 1863. “Surely the God of battles is on our side,” thought a soldier in the 37^th Mississippi as he read the 91^st Psalm before going into action at Vicksburg.

RAK: “With God on our side.” The “Holy Cause.” Confederate soldiers have this in common with the 9/11 suicide bombers: Belief that the cause they are undertaking is one that it is a “duty” to god—and that one is justified in one’s actions in order to kill a “godless enemy.”

73—In the hot blood of combat it was a question of self-defense, of kill or be killed. “You would think it was a cruel thing to (shoot) a man at ten rods distance,” an Illinois corporal wrote, “but just think that your life is at stake if you don’t and it will encourage you in this cruel business.”