A War not Well
When the Union
entered into the Civil War, there was a general feeling that the war would end
very quickly without much loss of life for either the North or the South.
In fact, rather famously, there is a story that there were spectators at the
First Battle of Bull Run thinking that the battle would be a grand old
affair. The First Battle of Bull Run was hardly a grand old affair.
By the end of the day, the Union Army had retreated in disarray, the civilian spectators
with them. The story helps illustrate the illusion that
many people in the North had about what war was, and about how long it would
last.
By the time that Charley is writing this letter, it was very quickly becoming evident that the war would not end quickly. The North had suffered key losses, and many men. The draft was quickly being put into place, in contrast to the beginning of the war which had relied entirely on volunteer regiments. Much of people’s anger was directed towards both the government which had pushed the Union into the war, and the Northern generals who were losing. Sometimes, this anger was warranted. During the 1864 election, the Democratic Party ran on the idea that they would end the war with peace, while Lincoln's Republican Party ran under the platform of finishing what they began. Lincoln never believed that he would win the election because of the waning popularity of the war. He did win.
Charley Goodyear talks about the anger that people felt, and sometimes the anger he felt. In the earlier letters, he writes of his hope that the people would continue to support the war and generals. I feel this is a reflection of his belief that the war was a necessity and the patriotic thing to do. However, as time progresses, he begins to feel anger toward his generals and even the president. This, I believe, is actually due more to his dissatisfaction with the pace of the war. From the time that Charles joined to the time he joined the Colored Infantry, he did little more than stay at Fort Scott and deal with the tedium of fort life. I believe that his anger was that the generals kept him stationed at a fort instead of pressing on into Virginia.
Source:
Feragher, John Mack. Out of Many. Pearson Prentice Hall, 5, 2007. p534.
By the time that Charley is writing this letter, it was very quickly becoming evident that the war would not end quickly. The North had suffered key losses, and many men. The draft was quickly being put into place, in contrast to the beginning of the war which had relied entirely on volunteer regiments. Much of people’s anger was directed towards both the government which had pushed the Union into the war, and the Northern generals who were losing. Sometimes, this anger was warranted. During the 1864 election, the Democratic Party ran on the idea that they would end the war with peace, while Lincoln's Republican Party ran under the platform of finishing what they began. Lincoln never believed that he would win the election because of the waning popularity of the war. He did win.
Charley Goodyear talks about the anger that people felt, and sometimes the anger he felt. In the earlier letters, he writes of his hope that the people would continue to support the war and generals. I feel this is a reflection of his belief that the war was a necessity and the patriotic thing to do. However, as time progresses, he begins to feel anger toward his generals and even the president. This, I believe, is actually due more to his dissatisfaction with the pace of the war. From the time that Charles joined to the time he joined the Colored Infantry, he did little more than stay at Fort Scott and deal with the tedium of fort life. I believe that his anger was that the generals kept him stationed at a fort instead of pressing on into Virginia.
Source:
Feragher, John Mack. Out of Many. Pearson Prentice Hall, 5, 2007. p534.