I was at the family cemetery the other day in Vermont. Walking around in a spot I had never been, I found ANOTHER great uncle who died in the Civil War at Cold Harbor.
I cannot imagine leaving the northernmost county in Vermont in 1862 and going to get killed in Virgina. I know the type of people these men were. They stick to themselves and don’t let others bother them a lot.
They were not drafted, they all volunteered.
It was either patriotism or moral outrage.
And, while there are a ton of folks on welfare in that part of VT now, it was pretty self sufficient back then. They did not have much use for a Federal government or even the state. So, patriotism does not seem like a viable reason.
That leaves “moral outrage.”
My guess is that times don’t really change much. The reasons to get young men to volunteer for war are often not the real reasons.
The real reasons are often not discussed across the fence.
I honor Almond Priest’s sacrifice. I would have loved a discussion with his three brothers and him.
That leaves “moral outrage.”
Moral outrage makes even less sense. There was no move to abolish slavery until two years after the war had started. They would have had to be precognitive as well as being in the throes of a "moral outrage."
Since Abolishing slavery wasn't on the table in 1862, one can only conclude that they were simply being patriotic.