While I am a comparative newcomer to these Civil War threads I have noticed that there are far more attempts to disparage the Union soldiers than I've ever seen directed towards Southern ones. To hear some people all Union soldiers were Irish immigrants forced into the ranks right off the boat, rapists, conscripts, or just plain cowards. Grant was nothing but a drunk. Sherman was a pyromaniac. And it was just blind luck that the North won any battle at all much less the war.
While I am philosophically more akin to the Virginia leadership, I would step in to defend New England, as well, if the shoe were ever really on the other foot. (No, no Puritan; but I honor the honorable coming together of the different American cultures in the 1780s, and unlike the lynch mob mentality of the South haters, will never respond in kind. I have been fighting the misuse of the Federal Government to try to impose one section's set of moral values on the others, since High School.
August 9, 1960
Dear Dr. Scott:
Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War Between the States the issue of Secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.
General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his belief in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.
From deep conviction I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s caliber would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.
Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall.
Sincerely,
Dwight D. Eisenhower
All that having been said, the Northern troops waged generally honorable warfare and waged it effectively. No defender of the Southern cause ought to stoop so low as to disparage the Northern troops. Both Grant and Sherman proved themselves to be quite gentlemanly after the war although that may not have been as obvious in the heat of battle.
Grant certainly guzzled more whiskey than was prudent on the last day of the siege of Vicksburg when he sent seven human waves against that city's battlements. Lincoln acknowledged this when he said a supply of such whiskey should be sent to each of his generals. Grant was more temperate during the rest of the war.
Sherman certainly burned Atlanta and a lot of the rest of the South on his March to the Sea.
The Irish (from the sacred nation of my sainted paternal grandmother of Cork) fought on BOTH sides. I believe that the famed Irish Brigade (69th NY) distinguished itself in the late unpleasantness. Matt Keough, last trooper to go down at Little Big Horn, taking six warriors with him, came here from Ireland not to drink but to serve in the cause of abolishing slavery after decorated service in Pius IX's papal army against Garibaldi, Mezzini and Cavour. Padraig Claiborn served as a Confederate General and was killed in battle. Phil Sheridan, of Irish ancestry, was Sherman's right arm.
Like most victorious armies or navies in battles throughout the history, the "luck" of victory was generally the residue of hard work, diligent planning and effective execution.
Conscripts? Probably both sides had conscripts. New York City had draft riots against conscription. In the South, many (not all) simply ignored attempts at conscription and got away with it.
In the absence of specific historic proof to the contrary, we ought to regard each of the 600,000 who fell on both sides as "all our honored dead."
Where we apparently differ is that I would hold Lincoln responsible for 600,000 dead in a quite unnecessary war. The nation would have been far better served if Senator Douglas had been elected POTUS.