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Desertion
[td]At many points during the war, and especially near the end, the Confederate armies were very poorly fed. At home their families were in worsening condition and faced starvation and the depredations of roving bands of marauders. Many soldiers went home temporarily (A.W.O.L. β "[[Absent Without Official Leave]]") and quietly returned when their family problems had been resolved. By September 1864, however, President Davis publicly admitted that two-thirds of the soldiers were absent, "most of them without leave". The problem escalated rapidly after that, and fewer and fewer men returned.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Williams|title=Rich Man's War: Class, Caste, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U2z9lk833EC&pg=PA4|year=2011|publisher=University of Georgia Press|page=4|isbn=9780820340791}}</ref> Soldiers who were fighting in defense of their homes realized that they had to desert to fulfill that duty. Historian Mark Weitz argues that the official count of 103,400 deserters is too low. He concludes that most of the desertions came because the soldier felt he owed a higher duty to his own family than to the Confederacy.<ref>Mark A. Weitz, ''A higher duty: desertion among Georgia troops during the Civil War'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2005).</ref>[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]Confederate policies regarding desertion could be severe. For example, on August 19, 1862, famed General [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]] (1824β1863), approved the court-martial sentence of execution for three soldiers for desertion, rejecting pleas for clemency from the soldiers' regimental commander. General Jackson's goal was to maintain discipline in a volunteer army whose homes were under threat of enemy occupation.<ref>K. M. L. "Stonewall's Rush to Judgment", ''Civil War Times'' (2010) 49#2 pp 51+.</ref><ref>Ella Lonn, ''Desertion during the Civil War'' (1928).</ref> However, it has been estimated that the Confederate Army only executed about 230 deserters over the course of the war while others suggest that the figure may have been somewhat higher.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/desertion,-cowardice-and-punishment.html|title=Desertion, Cowardice and Punishment |website=Essential Civil War Curriculum |last=Weitz |first=Mark |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/military-executions-during-the-civil-war/|title=Military Executions during the Civil War |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |last=Cutrer |first=Thomas |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref> This contrasts with approximately 147 soldiers executed by the Union Army for desertion, which was confronted with an overall higher number of deserters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/view...ely executed offenders is dubious.|title=More Damning Than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army |website=Civil War Book Review |last=Severance |first=Ben |date=SpringβSummer 2006 |access-date=25 August 2025}}</ref> {{about||further discussion|Capital punishment by the United States military#American Civil War}}[/td]
[td]Confederate policies regarding desertion could be severe. For example, on August 19, 1862, famed General [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]] (1824β1863), approved the court-martial sentence of execution for three soldiers for desertion, rejecting pleas for clemency from the soldiers' regimental commander. General Jackson's goal was to maintain discipline in a volunteer army whose homes were under threat of enemy occupation.<ref>K. M. L. "Stonewall's Rush to Judgment", ''Civil War Times'' (2010) 49#2 pp 51+.</ref><ref>Ella Lonn, ''Desertion during the Civil War'' (1928).</ref> While upwards of 100,000 soldiers may have deserted Confederate arms for varying periods and at varying times during the war, it has been estimated that the Confederate Army only executed about 230 deserters over the course of the war, with others suggesting that the figure may have been somewhat higher.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/desertion,-cowardice-and-punishment.html|title=Desertion, Cowardice and Punishment |website=Essential Civil War Curriculum |last=Weitz |first=Mark |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/military-executions-during-the-civil-war/|title=Military Executions during the Civil War |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |last=Cutrer |first=Thomas |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref> This contrasts with approximately 147 soldiers executed by the Union Army for desertion, which was confronted with an overall higher number of deserters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/view...ely executed offenders is dubious.|title=More Damning Than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army |website=Civil War Book Review |last=Severance |first=Ben |date=SpringβSummer 2006 |access-date=25 August 2025}}</ref> {{about||further discussion|Capital punishment by the United States military#American Civil War}}[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]Historians of the Civil War have emphasized how soldiers from poor families deserted because they were urgently needed at home. Local pressures mounted as Union forces occupied more and more Confederate territory, putting more and more families at risk of hardship.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2580242|title = Desertion as Localism: Army Unit Solidarity and Group Norms in the U.S. Civil War|journal = Social Forces|volume = 70|issue = 2|pages = 321β342|last1 = Bearman|first1 = Peter S.|year = 1991|doi = 10.2307/2580242}}</ref> One Confederate Army officer at the time noted, "The deserters belong almost entirely to the poorest class of non-slave-holders whose labor is indispensable to the daily support of their families" and that "When the father, husband or son is forced into the service, the suffering at home with them is inevitable. It is not in the nature of these men to remain quiet in the ranks under such circumstances."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/southβs-inner-civil-war-0 |title=The South's Inner Civil War: The more fiercely the Confederacy fought for its independence, the more bitterly divided it became. To fully understand the vast changes the war unleashed on the country, you must first understand the plight of the Southerners who didn't want secession |date=March 1989 |volume=40 |issue=2 |first=Eric |last=Foner |author-link=Eric Foner |page=3 |magazine=American Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/2013121...eritage.com/content/southβs-inner-civil-war-0 |archive-date=December 18, 2013 }}</ref>[/td]
[td]Historians of the Civil War have emphasized how soldiers from poor families deserted because they were urgently needed at home. Local pressures mounted as Union forces occupied more and more Confederate territory, putting more and more families at risk of hardship.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2580242|title = Desertion as Localism: Army Unit Solidarity and Group Norms in the U.S. Civil War|journal = Social Forces|volume = 70|issue = 2|pages = 321β342|last1 = Bearman|first1 = Peter S.|year = 1991|doi = 10.2307/2580242}}</ref> One Confederate Army officer at the time noted, "The deserters belong almost entirely to the poorest class of non-slave-holders whose labor is indispensable to the daily support of their families" and that "When the father, husband or son is forced into the service, the suffering at home with them is inevitable. It is not in the nature of these men to remain quiet in the ranks under such circumstances."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/southβs-inner-civil-war-0 |title=The South's Inner Civil War: The more fiercely the Confederacy fought for its independence, the more bitterly divided it became. To fully understand the vast changes the war unleashed on the country, you must first understand the plight of the Southerners who didn't want secession |date=March 1989 |volume=40 |issue=2 |first=Eric |last=Foner |author-link=Eric Foner |page=3 |magazine=American Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/2013121...eritage.com/content/southβs-inner-civil-war-0 |archive-date=December 18, 2013 }}</ref>[/td]
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[td]At many points during the war, and especially near the end, the Confederate armies were very poorly fed. At home their families were in worsening condition and faced starvation and the depredations of roving bands of marauders. Many soldiers went home temporarily (A.W.O.L. β "[[Absent Without Official Leave]]") and quietly returned when their family problems had been resolved. By September 1864, however, President Davis publicly admitted that two-thirds of the soldiers were absent, "most of them without leave". The problem escalated rapidly after that, and fewer and fewer men returned.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Williams|title=Rich Man's War: Class, Caste, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U2z9lk833EC&pg=PA4|year=2011|publisher=University of Georgia Press|page=4|isbn=9780820340791}}</ref> Soldiers who were fighting in defense of their homes realized that they had to desert to fulfill that duty. Historian Mark Weitz argues that the official count of 103,400 deserters is too low. He concludes that most of the desertions came because the soldier felt he owed a higher duty to his own family than to the Confederacy.<ref>Mark A. Weitz, ''A higher duty: desertion among Georgia troops during the Civil War'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2005).</ref>[/td]Revision as of 15:26, 3 September 2025
[/td][td]At many points during the war, and especially near the end, the Confederate armies were very poorly fed. At home their families were in worsening condition and faced starvation and the depredations of roving bands of marauders. Many soldiers went home temporarily (A.W.O.L. β "[[Absent Without Official Leave]]") and quietly returned when their family problems had been resolved. By September 1864, however, President Davis publicly admitted that two-thirds of the soldiers were absent, "most of them without leave". The problem escalated rapidly after that, and fewer and fewer men returned.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Williams|title=Rich Man's War: Class, Caste, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U2z9lk833EC&pg=PA4|year=2011|publisher=University of Georgia Press|page=4|isbn=9780820340791}}</ref> Soldiers who were fighting in defense of their homes realized that they had to desert to fulfill that duty. Historian Mark Weitz argues that the official count of 103,400 deserters is too low. He concludes that most of the desertions came because the soldier felt he owed a higher duty to his own family than to the Confederacy.<ref>Mark A. Weitz, ''A higher duty: desertion among Georgia troops during the Civil War'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2005).</ref>[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]Confederate policies regarding desertion could be severe. For example, on August 19, 1862, famed General [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]] (1824β1863), approved the court-martial sentence of execution for three soldiers for desertion, rejecting pleas for clemency from the soldiers' regimental commander. General Jackson's goal was to maintain discipline in a volunteer army whose homes were under threat of enemy occupation.<ref>K. M. L. "Stonewall's Rush to Judgment", ''Civil War Times'' (2010) 49#2 pp 51+.</ref><ref>Ella Lonn, ''Desertion during the Civil War'' (1928).</ref> However, it has been estimated that the Confederate Army only executed about 230 deserters over the course of the war while others suggest that the figure may have been somewhat higher.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/desertion,-cowardice-and-punishment.html|title=Desertion, Cowardice and Punishment |website=Essential Civil War Curriculum |last=Weitz |first=Mark |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/military-executions-during-the-civil-war/|title=Military Executions during the Civil War |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |last=Cutrer |first=Thomas |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref> This contrasts with approximately 147 soldiers executed by the Union Army for desertion, which was confronted with an overall higher number of deserters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/view...ely executed offenders is dubious.|title=More Damning Than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army |website=Civil War Book Review |last=Severance |first=Ben |date=SpringβSummer 2006 |access-date=25 August 2025}}</ref> {{about||further discussion|Capital punishment by the United States military#American Civil War}}[/td]
[td]Confederate policies regarding desertion could be severe. For example, on August 19, 1862, famed General [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]] (1824β1863), approved the court-martial sentence of execution for three soldiers for desertion, rejecting pleas for clemency from the soldiers' regimental commander. General Jackson's goal was to maintain discipline in a volunteer army whose homes were under threat of enemy occupation.<ref>K. M. L. "Stonewall's Rush to Judgment", ''Civil War Times'' (2010) 49#2 pp 51+.</ref><ref>Ella Lonn, ''Desertion during the Civil War'' (1928).</ref> While upwards of 100,000 soldiers may have deserted Confederate arms for varying periods and at varying times during the war, it has been estimated that the Confederate Army only executed about 230 deserters over the course of the war, with others suggesting that the figure may have been somewhat higher.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/desertion,-cowardice-and-punishment.html|title=Desertion, Cowardice and Punishment |website=Essential Civil War Curriculum |last=Weitz |first=Mark |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/military-executions-during-the-civil-war/|title=Military Executions during the Civil War |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |last=Cutrer |first=Thomas |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref> This contrasts with approximately 147 soldiers executed by the Union Army for desertion, which was confronted with an overall higher number of deserters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/view...ely executed offenders is dubious.|title=More Damning Than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army |website=Civil War Book Review |last=Severance |first=Ben |date=SpringβSummer 2006 |access-date=25 August 2025}}</ref> {{about||further discussion|Capital punishment by the United States military#American Civil War}}[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]Historians of the Civil War have emphasized how soldiers from poor families deserted because they were urgently needed at home. Local pressures mounted as Union forces occupied more and more Confederate territory, putting more and more families at risk of hardship.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2580242|title = Desertion as Localism: Army Unit Solidarity and Group Norms in the U.S. Civil War|journal = Social Forces|volume = 70|issue = 2|pages = 321β342|last1 = Bearman|first1 = Peter S.|year = 1991|doi = 10.2307/2580242}}</ref> One Confederate Army officer at the time noted, "The deserters belong almost entirely to the poorest class of non-slave-holders whose labor is indispensable to the daily support of their families" and that "When the father, husband or son is forced into the service, the suffering at home with them is inevitable. It is not in the nature of these men to remain quiet in the ranks under such circumstances."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/southβs-inner-civil-war-0 |title=The South's Inner Civil War: The more fiercely the Confederacy fought for its independence, the more bitterly divided it became. To fully understand the vast changes the war unleashed on the country, you must first understand the plight of the Southerners who didn't want secession |date=March 1989 |volume=40 |issue=2 |first=Eric |last=Foner |author-link=Eric Foner |page=3 |magazine=American Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/2013121...eritage.com/content/southβs-inner-civil-war-0 |archive-date=December 18, 2013 }}</ref>[/td]
[td]Historians of the Civil War have emphasized how soldiers from poor families deserted because they were urgently needed at home. Local pressures mounted as Union forces occupied more and more Confederate territory, putting more and more families at risk of hardship.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2580242|title = Desertion as Localism: Army Unit Solidarity and Group Norms in the U.S. Civil War|journal = Social Forces|volume = 70|issue = 2|pages = 321β342|last1 = Bearman|first1 = Peter S.|year = 1991|doi = 10.2307/2580242}}</ref> One Confederate Army officer at the time noted, "The deserters belong almost entirely to the poorest class of non-slave-holders whose labor is indispensable to the daily support of their families" and that "When the father, husband or son is forced into the service, the suffering at home with them is inevitable. It is not in the nature of these men to remain quiet in the ranks under such circumstances."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/southβs-inner-civil-war-0 |title=The South's Inner Civil War: The more fiercely the Confederacy fought for its independence, the more bitterly divided it became. To fully understand the vast changes the war unleashed on the country, you must first understand the plight of the Southerners who didn't want secession |date=March 1989 |volume=40 |issue=2 |first=Eric |last=Foner |author-link=Eric Foner |page=3 |magazine=American Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/2013121...eritage.com/content/southβs-inner-civil-war-0 |archive-date=December 18, 2013 }}</ref>[/td]
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