Lives of the Individual Human

¶ … lives of the individual human beings who fought in the Battle of Shiloh, rather than just considering it an interesting piece of history. Real people, some of them very young, entered the military for different reasons, and each had their own story.

Many left families and relationships behind. Some were very patriotic to the Confederacy and the idea of secession from the union. Some wanted to retain the right to their basic freedom, and to keep slaves; others were simply caught up in the battle, not necessarily knowing the real reasons behind the war. Some had romantic notions about going off to fight in a war to defend the land they loved.

Each soldier had a background and a history, however short, that made him unique.

The Southern troops appeared to be somewhat undisciplined because their officers staged cockfights, and the soldiers gambled and plundered and pillaged. They had very little experience or knowledge about battle, and most of them had never heard a gun fired for unfriendly reasons. Most of them were very young. They were being subjected to extremely uncomfortable circumstances. In addition, the officers, even up to the level Brigadier General, were not necessarily educated about military activities, so leadership was not strong among them. They were also pressed for time in their preparations to attack.

3. Union soldiers, generally better trained and experienced, were convinced that the south was on its last leg and that the war would soon be won. Their pride in the battles they had already won was contagious, and they felt the Confederates were demoralized. Their confidence in themselves and their cause, combined with their attitude that the war was almost over and that they were winning, contributed to their positive outlook.

4. Northern newspapers were hyping Union victories and touting the fact that the war was almost over; southerners taken prisoner told the newspapers that the south was discouraged and the Confederate cause was lost. The papers stated that the war could not last much longer. Union optimism and overconfidence was being encouraged by the constant retelling of victory stories in the press. Southern newspapers and politicians were feeding the concern that if they lost the war, Southerners would be losing their independence, which would make life not worth living.

The two armies were similar in that both had soldiers who joined the military for reasons other than political ideals, i.e. For the opportunity to pillage and plunder; for glory and adventure. Both armies had very young soldiers who naturally tended to misbehave, and both had a majority of inexperienced, under trained soldiers. Soldiers on both sides had a vague notion of the political reasons for the war. Soldiers on both sides probably had relatives on the opposite side of the conflict.

What is remarkable is that the soldiers were, for the most part, too young to have formed political alliances or strong opinions based on knowledge or experience, but were involved in fighting a war they did not fully understand. They had vague notions that the South should retain its freedom from the North; the Southerners were angry at being invaded by the North, but the poliitcal issues that surrounded the actual reasons for going to war were not necessarily clear to any of them.

Although we can boast better educated soldiers today, it is clear that many of our young people are serving in Iraq for reasons they do not quite understand, especially when the stated reason we invaded Iraq turned out to be false. It must be confusing to today's soldiers, just as it was then, why we continue to send them to be injured or killed in a war that is based on nonsense.

In retrospect, we know now that it was important to end slavery in the South, but there were many other reasons for that war besides the stated ones, as well.

7. It did not make sense to Anne Wallace that she would be sitting in a comfortable home while he, after living a notable life and achieving great things, might languish and die alone. They had known one another for many years, and she felt it was only right that she should be there with him. I am sure this was not an unusual scenario. The country was under tremendous stress as one half fought against the other. The conditions were so challenging, and people were so involved in their loyalty to whatever side they were on, it would have been difficult to have a loved one out doing the hard, dangerous work while the other stayed at home in relative safety and comfort.

Black Soldier's Letter to Lincoln: A discriminatory salary policy would assure that black soldiers in the Union's army would not start thinking that they or their contribution was anywhere near equal to that of a white man, and it was probably also to appease the white soldiers. More than likely, it was pure racism, that was still prevalent in the north, even though the war was being fought, in part, to free the slaves. Perhaps the pay issue was more complicated than it seems, but the fact that it would be settled upon to pay black soldiers less is simply a sign of disregard, even then, of African-Americans' rights. Perhaps the Union army felt this was an easy way to keep costs down. Perhaps it was understood that black soldiers would be assigned more menial duties. But the fact that the situation was corrected is a sign that it was an ill-conceived decision.

Andersonville. Yes, Adolph Hitler chose conditions like these for his prisoners. Winder's plan to let prisoners die by natural causes - through stress, disease humiliation and torture - with suicide being a more desirable alternative, seems to be a common practice in times of war. In fact, the nice Christian men who are currently in charge of overseeing the treatment of our government's prisoners of war are just about as compassionate and civilized as General Winder, as demonstrated at Abu Ghraib.