During the American Civil War, the economic situations in
the USA and CSA were comparable. Both nations found it difficult to fund the
war effort and stretched the value of each dollar spent. Like every other war
time effort in American History, there have been “the movers and the shakers”,
the “big wigs”, and “the power houses” who could support the war effort or the
government with which their loyalty lay. The historic saying that war is a rich
man’s cause but a poor man’s fight comes to mind while reading an article
published in the Civil War History
journal in Volume 54, Number 3, September 2008.
Joseph
T. Glatthaar writes “In this Confederate war for independence, the rich man not
only advocated the cause, he embraced it. Disproportionately high numbers of
wealthy Confederates enlisted, remained in the ranks in spite of hardships and
suffered more heavily on the battlefield” (Glatthaar, 2008). He goes on to say “…the
rich and the sons of the rich enlisted in the army, incurred the risks, and
fought desperately, right alongside their poorer comrades” (Glatthaar, 2008).
These quotes serve to show that no matter the societal rank held in society during
peace time or in their prior civilian lives, the wealthy man was a dedicated to
the cause as anyone in the South. Glatthaar puts forth the idea that many of the
deserting Confederate soldiers may have done so, not because they lost faith in
the cause, but because they did not have much worth fighting for since most
were too poor to own slaves in the first place and had larger commitments at
home to attend to.
The
article is an interesting read and makes one realize that there are lesser
known and discussed events, which are just as interesting, during the war
rather than the now-famous battles we are taught in school.
Glatthaar, Joseph T. “Everyman’s War: A Rich and Poor Man’s
Fight in Lee’s Army” Civil War History. Vol
54. No. 3 (2008): 229-246.
Web.
I think that most of the rich plantation owners were fighting to keep their role as the social elite. The poorer Confederates needed to fight to keep the blacks at the bottom of the social ladder. When it was obvious that slavery was going end, the cause of preserving the south's way of life lost steam and bitterness and hatred was the result.
ReplyDeleteI argue that the confederate economy was not comparable to the Unions war effort on the basic facts that they were a war machine producing what was going to needed for the war effort as the confederates had to get loans from European countries and transport them to the United States. Confederacy with a food shortage what you hear of in the North is only of draft riots.
ReplyDeleteI do believe the confederate economy was no were near as advanced compared to the union considering the union was more industrilized and had more resources. Though the confederates were more based on southern pride and were more self orientated rather than the union working together.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting point made I grant you and because of the chivalrous ideology that many of the southern elites held to, many more wealthy southerners may have indeed volunteered and fought until the bitter end. However I would put forward that many wealthy southerners bought commissions and thus were officers and not really the grunt foot soldiers and wealthy people have been finding ways to get out of fighting wars since the dawn of time so I doubt the civil war was the exception to that rule.
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