Attitudes of the Union Soldiers

The article that I read, Judkin Browning addressed the attitudes of the Northern soldiers on the war in the south. The author focused on one area, an important center of blockade for the South in New Bern, North Carolina. In the beginning of the war, Union solider Joseph Barlow wrote to his wife in hopes of a speedy war, a common theme within the heads of many experiencing this war. As the war continues, Barlow loses interest in the war and says at one point that he had decided not to reenlist. I thought that it was interesting that the war began to lose popularity so quickly. It seemed that the article addressed the popularity in combat, as being the reason the soldiers were lead to enlisting in to the war. Historians claim that the men would agree to fighting to protect their pride, but did not expect what they saw when they arrived to the south and the racism that occurred. The author claimed that due to the soldiers interactions with the slaves and policing their emancipation, made them angry. The Union soldiers believed that they were protecting the Union and not the slaves’ liberties, and they felt they were being manipulated. I found this very interesting because not many people address the soldiers’ views on emancipating slaves in the South. The men believed that they were losing too many northern lives for ideas that they did not particularly believe in, in an area that felt like a foreign country to them. The women in South began lashing out against the occupying troops as well. They verbally and physically abused the soldiers as well as made it as uncomfortable for the men as possible. The land and the people made the men discouraged against what they thought was being patriotic. The article addressed the mindset of the people who otherwise would not have been recognized. The writings of the men reflected the disgust for the war and shared the waning in popularity against the war as well.

"I Am Not So Patriotic as I Was Once": The Effects of Military Occupation on the Occupying Union Soldiers during the Civil War. Judkin Browning.