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CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR: MASCULINITY, WAR EXPERIENCE, AND RELIGION ____________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Chico ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History ____________ by © Dillon Jackson Carroll 2009 Spring 2009 CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR: MASCULINITY, WAR EXPERIENCE, AND RELIGION A Thesis by Dillon Jackson Carroll Spring 2009 APPROVED BY THE DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE, INTERNATIONAL, AND INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES: _________________________________ Susan E. Place, Ph.D. APPROVED BY THE GRADUATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: _________________________________ Robert S. Tinkler, Ph.D., Chair _________________________________ Kenneth D. Rose, Ph.D. _________________________________ Robert C. Cottrell, Ph.D. PUBLICATION RIGHTS No portion of this thesis may be reprinted or reproduced in any manner unacceptable to the usual copyright restrictions without the written permission of the author. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my parents, who have been my cheerleading squad throughout my journey as a young man. They cheered me on through thick and thin, thanks mom and dad. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is my first thesis and just like any academic project it is not the result of just one person. Rather it is the product of many people who encouraged me either professionally or personally. Consequently, I have a lot of people who deserve mention. First, historians are essentially gracious thieves, and I am no different. We steal from the personal lives of people who lived before us, and we steal ideas from other historians. The difference is historians are simply kind enough to leave a footnote explaining from where and from whom they stole. With that in mind, this project was conceived after I read Dr. Stephen Berry’s book All That Makes a Man. His book was, and continues to be, an inspiration to my work. Dr. Berry was also gracious enough to review my early drafts and he gave me kind encouragement tempered with insightful criticism. I owe a special thanks to Jean Irving, who got me into Chico State as a young kid who really did not belong. This project would simply not exist had it not been for Dr. Robert Tinkler. Dr. Tinkler continually impresses me with his unwavering support, his sharp insight, his patience, and his love of teaching. I consider him both a mentor and a friend. Dr. Robert Cottrell has a marvelous eye for grammar and punctuation, and his editing skills were indispensable. Dr. Ken Rose brought a keen interest and enthusiasm that was greatly appreciated. Lisa North was my rock throughout this academic journey. She always listened to drafts, sometimes against her will, and offered encouragement, laughter, and praise. The members of my family have been more important to me than they possibly v know. My sister Cassie constantly advised me how to survive the rigors of graduate school, having already survived it herself. My father has been the greatest role model a young man could ask for. If I can become half the man he is, I would feel extremely blessed. My mother has instilled in me her undying love of learning. She offered continual praise and encouragement as I researched and studied. I do not know where I would be without my family. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Publication Rights...................................................................................................... iii Dedication.................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements.................................................................................................... v Abstract...................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I. Introduction................................................................................................. 1 II. Examining Southern Men Before the War.................................................. 6 III. Why Men Volunteered to Fight for the Confederacy ................................. 31 IV. Joshua Callaway and the War Experience for the Common Soldier of the Confederacy...................................................................................... 54 V. Religion and the Common Soldier of the Confederacy ............................ 81 VI. What the War Wrought ............................................................................. 102 VII. Epilogue..................................................................................................... 108 Walter Lenoir..................................................................................... 108 Joshua Callaway................................................................................. 110 William Dorsey Pender...................................................................... 111 James Williams .................................................................................. 113 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 116 vii ABSTRACT CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR: MASCULINITY, WAR EXPERIENCE, AND RELIGION by © Dillon Jackson Carroll 2009 Master of Arts in History California State University, Chico Spring 2009 Although there is a large body of work that deals with the experience of Civil War soldiers, there are relatively few male gender studies of the war. This project seeks to examine the relationship of masculinity and the Confederate soldier in the American Civil War. This project seeks to shed light upon ideas of 19th century masculinity and how it was invoked, shaped and ultimately changed by the Civil War. Masculine roles were changing in the 19th century; the southern ideal of manhood was beginning to become obsolete in the face of the new Self-Made Man of the Market Revolution. In order to protect their homes and preserve their manliness, Southern men embarked on the bloody affair known as the American Civil War. Historians that I consulted to help introduce and explain 19th century masculinity include Michael Kimmel, E. Anthony Rotundo, Craig Thompson Friend and Lorri Glover. viii Courage and religion are interwoven with 19th century notions of manhood and the manly soldier and must be examined. Confederate soldiers in the Civil War initially believed that the courageous soldier who never flinched in the face of enemy fire would not be killed. They also comparatively believed that the soldier who had an unyielding faith in God would be protected. These ideas were dramatically molded by the experience of soldiering. The popular ideal of what made a courageous soldier was quickly modified to suit realistic purposes. Faith in religion was used to explain the unexplainable in battle and camp, and generally became stronger during the war. Historians I consulted for information concerning courage and religion include but are not limited to Bell Irvin Wiley, Gerald Linderman, and James M. McPherson. This project additionally seeks to intimately shed light on the war experience by closely examining the lives of several Confederate soldiers who lived and died during the war. The letters that these men wrote home during their service have been meticulously researched specifically seeking to examine how they dealt with masculinity, courage and religion during their war experience. The published letters of Joshua K. Callaway, James M. Williams, Edwin H. Fay and William Dorsey Pender were examined. The unpublished letters of Walter Lenoir were examined as well. ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In the summer of 1815, John Adams wrote his friend Thomas Jefferson and asked who could ever write a true history of the American Revolution. “Nobody,” responded Jefferson. “[T]he life and soul of history must for ever be unknown.”1 While this project is certainly not a definitive response to Jefferson’s conclusion, it is a feeble attempt to prove the Virginian wrong. But this study does not concern itself with the American Revolution. Rather, it is an effort to understand the cataclysmic Civil War that unfolded over eighty years after the birth of the United States. Specifically, it investigates the experience of the southern men who lived before the war, fought its battles, and suffered its aftermath. Forty-six years after Adams wrote to Jefferson, a young southern man wrote to his family from Richmond in October 1861. “I think when we gain our independence and get back home we will have a jubilee…I want to see you very bad and spend some more pleasant hours with you,” thirty-three-year-old Benjamin Moody wrote. “But I could not stay there until the war is over. I am glad that I did have fortitude enough to 1 Thomas Jefferson, 10 August 1815, in Lester J. Cappon, ed., The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams, Vol. II, 1812-1826 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1959), 452. 1 2 come to the war, for I believe that it was my duty to come.”2 Three months prior, Moody had joined the Thirty-Fifth Georgia Volunteer Regiment as a private on August 12, 1861. Like many men, he felt it was his obligation as a man to be a soldier in the war.3 The conflict bore him away from his home in Campbell County, Georgia, and placed him in defense of the Confederate capital in Richmond. By late May 1862, the Confederacy was bracing to repel General George McClellan’s invasion of Virginia. The flurry