Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors to Volume II
- Note on the Text
- Part I Causes
- Part II Managing the War
- 4 Strategy, Operations, and Tactics
- 5 Union Military Leadership
- 6 Confederate Military Leadership
- 7 Technology and War
- 8 Armies and Discipline
- 9 Financing the War
- 10 Guerrilla Wars
- 11 Occupation
- 12 Atrocities, Retribution, and Laws
- 13 Environmental War
- 14 Civil War Health and Medicine
- 15 Prisoners of War
- Part III The Global War
- Part IV Politics
- Index
- References
8 - Armies and Discipline
from Part II - Managing the War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2019
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors to Volume II
- Note on the Text
- Part I Causes
- Part II Managing the War
- 4 Strategy, Operations, and Tactics
- 5 Union Military Leadership
- 6 Confederate Military Leadership
- 7 Technology and War
- 8 Armies and Discipline
- 9 Financing the War
- 10 Guerrilla Wars
- 11 Occupation
- 12 Atrocities, Retribution, and Laws
- 13 Environmental War
- 14 Civil War Health and Medicine
- 15 Prisoners of War
- Part III The Global War
- Part IV Politics
- Index
- References
Summary
The Civil War brought unprecedented challenges to military and political officials on both sides. One of the key questions was how to instill discipline upon largely volunteer troops. Confederate and Union armies were primarily made up of amateurs, men who proudly believed in the ideal of the citizen soldier, but who often defiantly pushed back against conventional army regulations. This chapter narrates the efforts of the Union and the Confederacy to instill discipline and training, especially when faced with varying degrees of demoralization and disaffection. It further explores how and why commanders and soldiers adapted (or failed to adapt) to these codes of conduct, punishments, and the wider repercussions for Americans largely unused to the strict demands of wartime service.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War , pp. 159 - 173Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019