# What did Civil War soldiers fight for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 7, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676 "2012-08-07T00:29:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/41 "2012-08-08T02:24:14Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > That is a fitting name considering your view of the War of Northern Aggression. “Northern Aggression”? You couldn’t name it less accurately if you called it the War of Mutant Tomato Worms. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/42 "2012-08-08T02:56:07Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > That is a fitting name considering your view of the War of Northern Aggression. Unless you’re posting in the Pit, please skip the personal remarks. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/43 "2012-08-17T22:15:40Z")
The South did draft people increasingly as the war went on, and the draft laws were enforced on deserters and people who tried to evade it. _Cold Mountain_ is not entirely imaginary. ---
**Author:** ![furdmort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@furdmort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furdmort)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/44 "2012-08-18T11:55:37Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > That is a fitting name considering your view of the War of Northern Aggression. > > . That’s a really odd thing to say, considering that it was the confederates who fired the first shot by capturing Fort Sumter: From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War) > [@](#): > > Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces fired on a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/45 "2012-08-18T12:10:51Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > > [@DrDeth](#): > > > > Except, the North r_eally was_ “doing the right thing”. > > That is a fitting name considering your view of the War of Northern Aggression. > > > [@](#): > > > > It remains the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 750,000 soldiers[5] and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. Historian John Huddleston estimates the death toll at ten percent of all Northern males 20–45 years old, and 30 percent of all Southern white males aged 18–40 Well, too damned bad for them. They were defending something that was in its own way _at least_ as evil as Nazi Germany, and as deserving of destruction. Oh, I have at least some sympathy for some of the random civilians; but I wouldn’t feel any compassion for their military and leadership if it had been exterminated to the last man. And “War of Northern Aggression”? :rolleyes: If we want to use such a propagandistic label, how about “The War Against the Treasonous Southern Enemies of Humanity”? A bit more awkward, but at least it has the virtue of accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/46 "2012-08-18T12:34:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Well, too damned bad for them. They were defending something that was in its own way _at least_ as evil as Nazi Germany, and as deserving of destruction. Oh, I have at least some sympathy for some of the random civilians; but I wouldn’t feel any compassion for their military and leadership if it had been exterminated to the last man. > > And “War of Northern Aggression”? :rolleyes: If we want to use such a propagandistic label, how about “The War Against the Treasonous Southern Enemies of Humanity”? A bit more awkward, but at least it has the virtue of accuracy. “Slaver’s Rebellion” is punchier. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/47 "2012-08-18T12:44:57Z")
> [@robertliguori](#): > > “Slaver’s Rebellion” is punchier. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/48 "2012-08-18T14:40:58Z")
> [@furdmort](#): > > That’s a really odd thing to say, considering that it was the confederates who fired the first shot by capturing Fort Sumter: > > From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War) Haven’t you read history? The commander of Fort Sumter touched off hostilities by attacking thousands of peaceful Southern cannonballs with his aggressive fort. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/49 "2012-08-18T17:21:09Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Joining the army was a great long-term career move–if you lived to tell about it. Civil War veterans had huge advantages in politics and business. This is a nice case of 20-20 hindsight. While veterans absolutely did have the huge advantages cited, this certainly would not have been obvious to the ordinary citizen before the war, or during it. ---
**Author:** ![greenslime1951](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9bcb4/32.png) [@greenslime1951](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenslime1951)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/50 "2012-08-18T19:14:44Z")
I only have seen this mentioned once so far, but for the average Joe, North and South, life on the farm was pretty boring. You also never had any actual money to spend, for the most part. You joined the army, you got clothed, fed, and paid, you got to travel (most had never ridden on a train before, or been out of the county they were born in), and you got to meet people from all over the country. The possibility of getting killed was just part of the job, and probably outside of a few of the bloodiest battles, not really any greater than spending the equivalent amount of time on the farm (accident, disease, no real medical care, etc.). I doubt that any more than a tiny fraction of the soldiers on either side thought much about the “cause” or the sociopolitical issues involved. As the war went on, many Confederates viewed themselves as defending their homes from Northern invaders, but at any given moment, most members of a Southern army were hundreds of miles from their actual homes. I don’t think you feel any particular passion to defend Mississippi if you’re from Virginia, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/51 "2012-08-19T17:46:21Z")
Such is the case with many wars, whose early participants regard it as an adventure, and think it won’t last long anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676/52 "2012-08-19T21:01:51Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > They fought for four years. \ They fought because they were young, they were stupid, they were un-Worldly, and because they believed it was a “test of manhood”, whatever the Hell that means. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-civil-war-soldiers-fight-for/630676.md?page=2)