The Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat

Modern War Studies

by Earl J. Hess

I saw enough to sicken the heart. . . . The scenes which I witnessed were enough to overthrow all imaginations concerning the glory of war; but, dreadful as they were, I hope and believe that I would be willing to suffer the worst, . . . rather than prove a traitor to the trust which our country reposes in all her sons.

—J. Spangler Kieffer, Pennsylvania Militia

With its relentless bloodshed, devastating firepower, and large-scale battles often fought on impossible terrain, the Civil War was a terrifying experience for a volunteer army. Yet, as Earl Hess shows, Union soldiers found the wherewithal to endure such terrors for four long years and emerge victorious.

A vivid reminder that the business of war is killing, Hess's study plunges us into the hellish realms of Civil War combat—a horrific experience crowded with brutalizing sights, sounds, smells, and textures. We share the terror of being shot at for the first time and hear the "grating sound a minie ball makes when it hits a bone instead of the heavy thud when it strikes flesh." We are assaulted by choruses of groans from the wounded and dying and come to understand why some soldiers returned to battle with great dread.

Drawing extensively upon the letters, diaries, and memoirs of Northern soldiers, Hess reveals their deepest fears and shocks, and also their sources of inner strength. By identifying recurrent themes found in these accounts, Hess constructs a multilayered view of the many ways in which these men coped with the challenges of battle. He shows how they were bolstered by belief in God and country, or simply by their sense of duty; how they came to rely on the support of their comrades; and how they learned to muster self-control in order to persevere from one battle to the next.

Although our ability to appreciate war as it was conducted in the previous century has been clouded by our familiarity with modern conflicts, Hess's study conveys that reality with an immediacy rarely matched by other books. Even more, it urges us to reconsider these soldiers not as victims of the battlefield but rather as victors over the worst that war can inflict.

Genres: Civil War, History, Military History, Nonfiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Earl J. Hess is Stewart W. McClelland Chair in History at Lincoln Memorial University and the author of numerous books on the Civil War.

Reviews

[Jonathan Schneiderman]

Reminiscent of This Republic of Suffering in form and even to a certain extent in content; I suppose it's appropriate that I read it because it was assigned by Drew Faust.

[W Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellently researched book into the experience of US soldiers in the Civil War. Hess takes the reader into the army, through combat, and beyond Appomattox as he examines the thoughts an emotions of soldiers. A must read for those interested in the experiences of Federal soldiers in the war.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read even if it's about the horrors of the civil war.. puts a whole new perspective on the battles as seen through the eyes of the soldier.

[Brandon Benner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A circumspect and immersive study, Hess's book is a perceptive view into the psyche of the Union soldier of the American Civil War. Hess makes it clear that there is no 'one' experience of a man in service of the Union for those bloody four years. These men experienced the war in a variety of different manners and dealt with its hardships in almost as many different methods as there were men in the field. Hess displays plainly that these men were individuals, and they cannot be simply glossed over and painted by one archetypal image. Rather, we can study what they felt in the course of war and see how that reflects upon the character of Americans and our society at the time. From this study, one can draw a universal lesson on the study of men at war: each man will find war differently in his own mind. He will adapt differently, will persevere differently, and remember it differently. Hess breaks down the monolithic image of the cookie-cutter soldier of old and showed that these soldiers were in fact just like us: human.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

As moving a description of Civil War combat as one is likely to read, yet the later chapters paint a narrow and often contradictory picture of the motivations and stresses of the Union soldier

[Jeremy Raper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a college class on the Civil War; don't recall too much about it, would suggest only for academics or those with a deep interest on the subject.

[JerryDeanHalleck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short, informative, mediocre. Best for those with little knowledge of the subject.