Statement of Purpose

My research topic is the ordinary foot soldiers that fought in the Civil War, particularly those that fought in the Army of the Potomac. This topic touches upon many themes, including combat, the realities of military life, racial views, the ebb and flow of national pride, and the importance of duty as a component of life.

Black workers disintering the Union dead at Cold Harbor, VA, after the war. (Photo from American Memory)

The Civil War has been a topic of unsurpassed interest in American history ever since the last shots of the conflict were fired. It is universally recognized as the central event in the history of the United States, and widely regarded as the moment that, by eliminating slavery and demonstrating the resilience of popular government, legitimized the nation for centuries to come.

Pennsylvania regiment during the Petersburg Campaign, 1864. (American Memory)

We must always remember that major political and military figures act out their lives on a stage built and maintained by the largely nameless masses, people with their own ethos and perspectives. The men who fought in the Civil War were people of every background and occupation imaginable. They endured sickness, homesickness, boredom, disillusionment, and the most dreadful carnage humankind had ever brought upon itself.

U.S. Grant, 1863. (American Memory)

These men knew they were part of a great historical event that would be remembered long after they were dead, and as a result they wrote of their experiences on a grand scale. These accounts are the basis for my research, and the story of their authors is my ultimate goal.

Primary Question

What was life like for the average soldier who fought for the Army of the Potomac? My objective is to grasp firmly the physical and psychological challenges that the man who came to be known as Billy Yank faced. To put it simply, who was this man? Of course, I do not intend to attempt to confine the diversities and peculiarities of hundreds of thousands of men into a single prototype. Rather, I seek to define tendencies and the origins of them.

I examine the men who fought for the Army of the Potomac for a couple of reasons. First, it is practical. If you are going to focus on a Civil War army, you may as well pick one that was most important to the Union cause. And while the armies of the West were of drastic importance, the savage battle between Robert E. Lee and the Army of the Potomac caught the nation's attention most forcefully as a referendum on the war. Secondly, there is much more primary evidence from this theatre of the war. I do not exclude absolutely the rest of the armies of the Union in my conclusions, or even Confederate soldiers for that matter, because I sense from an examination of my sources that many of the conclusions that I will reach will be applicable to a wide range of soldiers. But the focus of my research is the Army of the Potomac.

Secondary Questions

A) What were the everyday physical conditions for these men? By physical conditions I am referring to items such as rations, living quarters, camp sickness, equipment, marching, etc. A wealth of excellent primary information exists on this topic, including John D. Billings wonderful Hardtack and Coffee. This question is most essential. How are we to understand these men if we don't understand the simple, everyday realities they faced?

Soldiers in winter quarters at Brandy Station, VA, 1863-64 (American Memory)

B) What was the demographic makeup of the Army of the Potomac? I intend here to examine the ethnicity, occupational tendencies, and age of Potomac foot soldiers. The point is to understand what kind of people northern society was sending to its armies. Upper class, lower class, foreign born, unskilled, what?

C) How did the soldier deal psychologically with the horror of combat? A wealth of excellent works have been written recently on this topic, including James M. McPherson's For Cause and Comrades and Reid Mitchell's Civil War Soldiers. This is perhaps the aspect of war most difficult to understand for those of us who have never experienced it. It is an especially significant question in the case of the Civil War, when eighteenth century combat tactics met with early twentieth century weapons to produce perhaps the worst combat the world had ever seen.

D) What were the soldier's views on race and slavery? Did they change as the war progressed, as President Lincoln's did? This is also a pertinent question. We have defined what the war means for us today, but what did they war men for the men who fought it? Was their perception different from ours today?

E) How did the spirit and confidence of the Army of the Potomac change during the course of the war? The army went through a half dozen commanders in its four years and several disasters on the battlefield. How did they react? How important was Gettysburg to overall morale? How bad did it get for the army in the darkest days of that terrible summer in 1864? How did they react to Grant's successful tactics of attrition and McClellan's failed methods of "prudent" warfare?

F) What conceptions did the soldier bring with him to army life? Were they shattered by his experience, and if so, what conceptions replaced them?

Grand Review in Washington D.C., May 1865 (American Memory)

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