Bloodhounds Analysis

The name Civil War is misleading because the war was not a class struggle, but a sectional combat, having its roots in political, economic, social, and psychological elements. It has been characterized, in the words of William H. Seward, as the “irrepressible conflict.” In another judgment the Civil War was viewed as criminally stupid, an unnecessary bloodletting brought on by arrogant extremists and blundering politicians. Both views accept the fact that in 1861 there existed a situation that, rightly or wrongly, had come to be regarded as insoluble by peaceful means.

Throughout my research about the importance of African Americans in the American Civil War, I realized how our modern society underappreciates the involvement of African American soldiers in the Civil War. Although the involvement of African American soldiers in the American Civil War is depicted in various ways in multiple sources. The main difference is the amount and the thoroughness each source provides. However, what they do have in common is that during the Civil War, African Americans played a huge role in the victory of the Union. In an article by Thavolia Glymph, she quotes Henry L. Abbot about what it means to be an soldier in war. He wrote that the authority and symbol of a soldier is a gun, not a shovel. Despite the fact of being full-fledged soldiers, African American soldiers were often ignored and extremely mistreated by white soldiers. They were given menial tasks such as digging trenches and were constantly degraded by Union soldiers. They scarcely held guns, but rather held shovels and sent to noncombat labor As a result, African

Ira Berlin (author of many thousands gone) starts this book off (in the prologue) by recalling a dispute some years ago over “who freed the slaves?” in the Civil War South. He was interviewed on Washington's public radio station about the meaning of “The Emancipation Proclamation”. He also addressed other familiar themes of the great document origin’s nature of the Civil War changing, the growing Black labor and the union's army’s dependence on it, the Evermore intensifying opposition to slavery in the North, and the interaction of military necessity an abolitionist idealism. He rehearsed the long established debate over the role of Abraham Lincoln, the radicals in Congress, abolitionists in the North, the Union army in the field, and slaves on the slaves on the plantations of the South in the destruction of slavery and in the authorship of legal freedom. During this debate he restated his position that “slaves played a critical role in securing their own freedom”.

The Civil War was one of America’s most brutal battles in history. Majority of which being white, male soldiers. Over the years, many historians have argued the actual involvement of blacks during the civil war era. Many claiming that they were doing nothing more than assisting the actual, white soldiers in combat such as, nurses, and wagon drivers, not actually picking up the gun and shooting alongside in battle. Most people look over the fact that almost ten percent, or 180,000, of the Union army were African American. Though a small fraction of the amount of total soldiers during the war, their involvement is still significant. These soldiers recruited and voluntarily, committing the same acts of bravery of any Caucasian solider, due to the prejudice against them, they were pushed to the back burner and treated with disrespect, virtually diminishing their extensive courageous acts. Nevertheless these soldiers made an impact in world changing war.

Moans of anguish fill the air, a man has fallen down from intense labor and is getting whipped to get back up. The man tries to get up, desperately pushing himself off the ground, yet the whip lashing into his body gives him no such opportunity. Eventually he falls flat, never to get up again. The person who was whipping him shrugged, “He was a waste of food anyways.” This was the life for a slave in the South before the Civil War. Destined to work in chains until they weren’t of use to the owner. In this essay I will prove that the North learning of the harsh treatment of slaves through the Fugitive Slave

The American Civil War was the deadliest warfare in American history soil; leaving approximately 620 thousand dead and over 300 thousand wounded. One would ask, who or what was the massive roles that played? During the nineteenth century, as the newborn nation, United States used racial identity, such as slaves or free blacks, and firearms were involved in the Civil War. I believe through this research paper, my learning from my K-12 schooling has not change significantly.

The tensions of the Civil War are very much still alive in the Southern United States one hundred and fifty years after the Confederacy surrendered to Union forces to end the war. While the tensions may have mitigated away from full-fledged war between North and South, there still remain tensions along racial and cultural lines well beyond the war. In Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic these long standing tensions left over from the war are delved into by Horwitz as he makes his way across the south to see how the old Confederacy is viewed in the modern world of the United States. What Horwitz found was a dualistic society differing views on the Confederacy and the events of the Civil War. Dualities left from the war in aspects such as racial tensions, the meaning of the Confederate flag even between North and South entirely. Those living in the South can be seen holding a resonating connection to the Civil War. It becomes clear in Confederates in the Attic the Civil War not only became the catalyst of such dualities in Southern society, but still further shape and perpetuate these dualities long after the Civil Wars conclusion.

The American Civil War occurred between 1861 and 1865 and is largely considered the most destructive conflict in U.S. history, resulting in approximately one million military casualties and an inestimable number of civil victims. Much controversy still surrounds the nature of this conflict, as its determining causes are complex. Contemporary international perception may have placed a progressive, anti-slavery label on the whole affair, yet the basic fact remains that nineteenth century America was an increasingly inhomogeneous country and prone to blatant discrepancy.

James M. McPherson sets out to discover what motivated the Confederate and Union soldiers to continue fighting in the Civil War in his book What They Fought For. McPherson analyses nearly a thousand letters, journals, and diary of Union and Confederate soldiers to determine what urged them to fight is this defining American Conflict. McPherson reads and groups together the common thoughts of the everyday soldier, from their letters and journals that none of which had been subjected to any sort of censorship, in that time period. He then generalizes the motivations that they used to fight for their country. Whether it be for slavery or for the Union, the author views both sides of the fighting to analysis their ideological issues, how deep their belief coursed through their veins to continue fighting, and how the soldiers held their convictions close to heart in the time of war.

In the village of Hampton there was a man who goes by the name of Benjamin F. Butler who had in his words, “a large number of Negros, many of them are composed in a great measure of women and children who had fled thither within my lines for protection, who had escaped from marauding Rebels who had been gathering up able-bodied blacks to aid them in construction their batteries on the James and York rivers... (Doc A)” This may prove to us that Ben was a slave owner in Virginia possibly before the Civil War and during the Civil War. Ben had some questions on his mind about his slaves, “First, what shall be done with them? Second, what is their state and condition? Upon these questions I desire the instruction of the department. (Doc A)” He had many other questions about his slaves and how the way he was treating them, “... Are these men, women, and children slaves? Are they free? Is their condition that of men, women, and children, or of property, or is it a mixed relation? What has been the effect of rebellion and a state of war on their status? (Doc A)” Ben had his moments on his questions about the slaves and the events that are going on, but he had something to say to his questions in his head, “When I adopted the theory of treating the able-bodied Negro fit to work in the trenches as property liable to be used in aid of rebellion, and so contraband of war, that condition of things was

The American Civil war is considered to be one of the most defining moments in American history. It is the war that shaped the social, political and economic structure with a broader prospect of unifying the states and hence leading to this ideal nation of unified states as it is today. In the book “Confederates in the Attic”, the author Tony Horwitz gives an account of his year long exploration through the places where the U.S. Civil War was fought. He took his childhood interest in the Civil War to a new level by traveling around the South in search of Civil War relics, battle fields, and most importantly stories. The title “Confederates in the Attic”: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War carries two meanings in Tony Horwitz’s

The Civil War caused a shift in the ways that many Americans thought about slavery and race. Chandra Manning’s What this Cruel War Was Over helps readers understand how soldiers viewed slavery during the Civil War. The book is a narrative, which follows the life of Union soldier who is from Massachusetts. Chandra Manning used letters, diaries and regimental newspapers to gain an understanding of soldiers’ views of slavery. The main character, Charles Brewster has never encountered slaves. However, he believes that Negroes are inferior. He does not meet slaves until he enters the war in the southern states of Maryland and Virginia. Charles Brewster views the slaves first as contraband. He believes the slaves are a burden and should be sent back to their owners because of the fugitive slave laws. Union soldiers focus shifted before the end of the war. They believed slavery was cruel and inhumane, expressing strong desire to liberate the slaves. As the war progresses, soldiers view slaves and slavery in a different light. This paper, by referring to the themes and characters presented in Chandra Manning’s What this Cruel War Was Over, analyzes how the issue of slavery and race shifted in the eyes of white Union soldiers’ during Civil War times.

The South vs. The South by William Freehling is a narrative that focuses on the civil war that affected a vast number of Southerners who opposed the Confederacy regardless of whether they were white or black. These “anti-Confederates,” as termed by Freehling comprised Slaves and Boarder state whites who together formed half the southern population and were significant to the Union victory. By weakening the Confederacy military, contributing manpower and resources to the Union and dividing the southern home front, the anti-Confederates made a critical contribution to the Union war efforts that hastened the end of the war leading to the Union’s victory. The U.S was not the only house that was divided; Divisions between pro-and anti-Confederates, white and black, and the loyalty of both upper and lower states to slavery contributed a lot to the downfall of the confederates. “Divisions within the South helped pave the path toward war. The same divisions behind army lines helped turn the war against the slaveholders.”(p.10). William Freehling argues that more than 450,000 Union troops from the South, especially southern blacks and border state whites, helped in the defeat of the confederates. Further, when the southern Border States rejected the Confederacy, more than a half of the South’s capacity swelled the North’s advantage.

Terrified by the changing of the Black’s status, before the Civil War had even finished, Southerners started a huge counterattack aimed at overpowering their former slaves. In 1896 their

Nicholas Lemann’s book helps us to heed to the lessons and experiences of the slaves in the golden age, from the 1930s to the 1970s. America’s working class was comprised heavily of racial and ethnic minorities, who often stood in problematic relation to political and civil societies. When they tried flexing their political muscle, either through in their workplace, or electoral means, they were often provoked by the hard fist of authority. African Americans who prearranged the Republican Party in Grant Parish, Louisiana, elected officials who represented their views. Later on, in 1873, the representatives were murdered by the white vigilantes in Colfax on Easter Sunday. This indicates how the American politics were encompassed by an explosive mix of democracy and terror.