The American Civil War

Soldiers of the American Civil War were overwhelmed by a time where weaponry and technological developments were thriving. This brutal war changed the soldiers, both mentally and physically, and continued to have an impact throughout their entire lives. There were not only many deaths during the war, but also prior to the war as many soldiers took their own life. They would experience disturbing thoughts and events in their mind that could not be explained until they became known as mental illnesses. The exploration of psychological disorders following the Civil War improved medical diagnostic tools and the way patients were treated which transformed the treatment of mental illness by creating new ways of discovering illnesses, treating patients, and developing the foundation for the future of psychology throughout America.

A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include eleven states. The states that remained devoted to the US were known as the Union or the North. The number one question that is never completely understood about the Civil War is what caused the war. There were multiple events that led to the groundbreaking, bloody, and political war.

The American Civil War took place from 1861-1865 was an inevitable event in the American history. More than 640,000 people were killed and millions more were injured during this massive war. The civil war was between the northern and the southern states where its most leading cause was slavery. Along with that, economic, political and social ideologies caused the civil war. The northern states, also known as the union, were more successful and antislavery compare to the southern confederates states. The northern states were more populated, had more industries, and believed in the Declaration of Independence statement that “all men are

The continental army had boys at 10 years of age assisting the patriot cause along with elderly men. At first George Washington did not want elderly, Negroes, or children in his rank would succumb due to “new recruits urgently needed and numbers of free blacks wanting to serve, he would change his mind and in a landmark general order authorize their enlistment” (Mccullough 37). The Patriot cause was deeply undermanned and was forced to recruit the rabble of society without objection due to the lack of support the colonies provided to the revolutionary

Many inspired and encouraged the young boys to join the army as drummer boys. These drummer boys were all under 18 and too young to be considered men, but still members of the army. They were officially said to have never partaken in any battles, but many felt compelled to toward the end of the war as Union soldiers invaded the South (Articles). All young children attended school and were taught to have massive amounts of patriotism by their teachers, being the main reason they were all so eager to take part in the fight

The Civil war between the north and south was a fight sparked by conflicting ideologies. James McPherson detailed that honor, duty, patriotism and ideology formed the main sustaining motivations for the Civil War, while courage, self-respect and group cohesion kept men going in combat. Along with these McPherson In his book For Cause & Comrades McPherson describes soldiers initial motivations. The differences between the confederate and union soldiers’ motivations were more prominent than they were similar because their underlying goals for the future of America varied when it pertained to human rights.

When the American Civil War began in the spring of 1861, those flocking to enlistment stations in states both north and south chiefly defined their cause as one of preservation. From Maine to Minnesota, young men joined up to preserve the Union. From Virginia to Texas, their future foes on the battlefield enlisted to preserve a social order, a social order at its core built on the institution of slavery and racial superiority . Secession had not been framed by prominent Southerners like Robert Toombs as a defensive measure to retain the fruits of the revolution against King George, a fight against those who sought to “intrique insurrection with all its nameless horrors.” (Toombs Speech) On January 1, 1863, when Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect the war became a revolution. The Union, the soldiers in blue fought to preserve could no longer exist. On every mile of soil, they would return to the Stars and Stripes from that moment on, the fabric of society would be irrevocably changed. In May of 1865, with the abolition of slavery engrained into the Constitution with the passage of the 13th Amendment, the Confederate armies of Lee and Johnston disbanded, and Lincoln dead of an assassin’s bullet; this change was the only certainty the torn fabric of the newly reunited states was left to be resown. Andrew Johnson and Southern Democrats believed the revolution of 1863 had gone far enough. Radical Republicans and African-Americans sought instead to bring it to

The war produced about 1,030,000 casualties, including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease, and 50,000 civilians. The war accounted for roughly as many American deaths as all American deaths in other U.S. wars combined.

president after Lincoln 's death and immediately set the tone for the rest of his

In the year 1864 the American Civil War was drawing to an end. The Confederate States of America was slowly running out of able bodied men and supplies to supply the army needed to ward off the Union’s invasion of the South. At this point in time the leader of the Union Army was Ulysses S. Grant. He devised a plan to escalate the process in which the Confederate Army was running out of supplies. Grant’s plan was to send Union troops to the West of the main conflict for them to loop around and cut off railroad lines, and burn farm lands. The greatest of these was the Army that burned thousands of acres in Georgia, yet another army led by General David Hunter might have been more decisive if it had not been stopped at the Battle of Lynchburg. General David Hunter was ordered by General Grant to make his way down the Shenandoah Valley and destroy as much farm land as possible along the way. On top of this General Hunter terrorized towns by pillaging stores and homes. The Southerners knew that a similar fate would become Lynchburg if they did not do anything to prevent Hunter’s advance. The people of Lynchburg worked hard at building up defenses protecting Lynchburg. They had to resort to using mostly young boys and elderly men since most able bodies men had already died in the War or were still fighting under General E. Lee. The boys and elderly men that maned the defenses did not have a good chance of warding of the large army led by General David Hunter; as a result, General

Children lost their fathers in the war, which left many orphaned. Churches and communities would set up orphanages to help the poor children. Many of the orphaned boys found that it was easy to enlist into the military. One of these boys was nine year old, John Clem. He is better known as the Drummer Boy of Shiloh. A drummer boy is a young soldier who plays a drum to direct the military which way to march. John Clem was a drummer boy and many years later, he worked all the way up to the title of Major General. Boys who weren’t orphaned had to get the permission of their parents before they could enlist; if they said no, some of them would sneak out to join the military. Many of them would not come back home for a long time. Others would not ever come home.

The Civil War was also called the Boys War because of the large number of boys entering the war. Although there was age restrictions for both sides, young boys found ways to get around it. One thing they would do is lie about their age to recruitment officers. Recruitment officers would not care about the lie because they had to meet a deadline. Another way to get around it will be to get parental permission some dads would sign their sons up cause the dads would also be going to war. The last way kids get around this is that they would run away from homes to get recruited in another town and rename themselves so there parents won’t find them but the downside to this is that they would never be heard of again if they die in battle.

The numbers of children that were involved in battles was very high. Just in those who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, 48 were under the age of 18(Children in the Civil War). Children enlisted as soldiers, but were often regiment musicians. Some also became hospital attendants, guards, water carriers, and barbers. Even the children who stayed at home had many responsibilities to help with the war.

In 1861, a horrific war began. Nobody had any idea that this war would become the deadliest war in American history. It wasn’t a regular war, it was a civil war opposing the Union in the North and the Confederate States in the South.. The Civil War cost many people’s lives on the battlefield and beyond. In addition it cost an extreme amount of money for the nation which possibly could have been avoided if the war had turned to happen a little differently.

Of the films that addressed this subject, the majority seemed to advocate that young men volunteered for the War out of how of duty and loyalty to their nice country. One