Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the Union Home Front

TitleDefining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the Union Home Front
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsGallman, J. Matthew
Number of Pages327
PublisherUniversity of North Carolina Press
CityChapel Hill
Abstract

The Civil War thrust Americans onto unfamiliar terrain, as two competing societies mobilized for four years of bloody conflict. Concerned Northerners turned to the print media for guidance on how to be good citizens in a war that hit close to home but was fought hundreds of miles away. They read novels, short stories, poems, songs, editorials, and newspaper stories. They laughed at cartoons and satirical essays. Their spirits were stirred in response to recruiting broadsides and patriotic envelopes. This massive cultural outpouring offered a path for ordinary Americans casting around for direction. Examining the breadth of Northern popular culture, this volume offers a dramatic reconsideration of how the Union's civilians understood the meaning of duty and citizenship in wartime. Although a huge percentage of military-aged men served in the Union army, a larger group chose to stay home, even while they supported the war. This study investigates how men and women, both white and black, understood their roles in the People's Conflict.

URLhttps://uncpress.org/book/9781469633411/defining-duty-in-the-civil-war/
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