Civil War Soldiers

Mitchell brings together a collection of primary sources to bring together a thesis that I've always bandied about in conversation, but lacked the background to make clear: that the occupational aspect of the union side heavily colored their view of the purpose of the war. The union soldier saw a backward, inferior society in the South-a "way of life" unworthy of a great country, and was more than happy to defeat it and its people. THe central chapter "The Union Soldier Views the South", certainly explains why Mitchell in his intro. says that he has been described as a "post-Vietnam" historian: the chapter is filled with citations from letters by soldiers describing not only a people that they do not understand, but a half-wild, feudal landscape at stark odds with the well-ordered towns of the Midwest.

This book is unusual among Civil War publications. It's a stark and realistic portrait of the enlisted man's view of war, similar to those published about VietNam. Based on previously unpublished letters and diaries, CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS follows the troops of both North and South. It describes not only their feelings about what they were doing and the reasons they did it, it shows the offense that men of both armies took from the behaviour of their fellow citizens. and claims that medical help was either lacking or incompetent. Mitchell claims that blacks suffered brutality from both armies and offers proof.This is a book that reaches across the centuries to bring a distant war close to the reader. It should be required reading in every American history classroom.

This book uses primary sources as its main resource. Mitchell draws the reader in by using the writings of the actual soldiers themselves; diaries, letters, ect. This is one of the rare Civil War works that allows us, the reader, to gain an understanding of what these gallant young men might have been thinking and feeling. We are given a glimpse of the answers to the questions; "Why are you fighting?," "What does it feel like to be in battle?," "Are you fighting for slavery/the slaves?," and many others. Truely, a must read for students of the United Staes Civil War.