Manhood

The essays analyses the scholarship on men and masculinity on the American Civil War (1861-65). It discusses the development of this research and compares the work on the North with that on the South and on broader regions. In terms of historical studies pertaining to manhood, the Civil War era has emerged as one of the most dynamic arenas to examine definitions and redefinitions of masculinity. Southern men utilized honor, mastery and physical appearance in order to define themselves as men prior to the Civil War. Their Northern counterparts emphasized family, citizenship, civic morality and self‐discipline as mechanisms to define their manhood. In the border region, men took on characteristics of Southern manhood, as they engaged as guerrillas. Men tested their own definitions of manhood, as they enlisted, fought, suffered and died in unprecedented numbers. Union victory cemented Northern conceptions of manhood and forced Southerners to redefine manhood in the presence of defeat and the destruction of slavery.