By William Marvel
In Lincoln’s Mercenaries, renowned Civil War
historian William Marvel considers whether poor northern men bore the highest
burden of military service during the American Civil War. Examining data on
median family wealth from the 1860 United States Census, Marvel reveals the
economic conditions of the earliest volunteers from each northern state during
the seven major recruitment and conscription periods of the war. The results
consistently support the conclusion that the majority of these soldiers came
from the poorer half of their respective states’ population, especially during
the first year of fighting.
Marvel further suggests that the largely forgotten economic
depression of 1860 and 1861 contributed in part to the disproportionate
participation in the war of men from chronically impoverished occupations.
During this fiscal downturn, thousands lost their jobs, leaving them
susceptible to the modest emoluments of military pay and community support for
soldiers’ families. From newspaper accounts and individual contemporary
testimony, he concludes that these early recruits―whom historians have
generally regarded as the most patriotic of Lincoln’s soldiers―were motivated
just as much by money as those who enlisted later for exorbitant bounties, and
that those generous bounties were made necessary partly because war production and
labor shortages improved economic conditions on the home front.
A fascinating, comprehensive study, Lincoln’s Mercenaries
illustrates how an array of social and economic factors drove poor northern men
to rely on military wages to support themselves and their families during the
war.
ISBN 978-0807169520, LSU Press, © 2018, Hardcover, 352
pages, Photographs & Illustrations, Tables, End Notes, Bibliography &
Index. $34.95. To purchase this book
click HERE.
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