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Reluctant rebels : the Confederates who joined the Army after 1861 / Kenneth W. Noe.

By: Noe, Kenneth W, 1957-.
Material type: TextTextSeries: Civil War America (Series): Publisher: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2010]Copyright date: ©2010Description: xiv, 317 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780807833773 (cloth : alk. paper); 0807833770 (cloth : alk. paper).Subject(s): Confederate States of America. Army -- Military life | Confederate States of America. Army -- Recruiting, enlistment, etc | Soldiers -- Confederate States of America -- History | Soldiers -- Confederate States of America -- Social conditions | Confederate States of America -- Social conditions | United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspectsDDC classification: 973.7/13
Contents:
Introduction: What they did not fight for -- part 1. "When our rights were threatened" -- Duty, honor, country : "Patriotism is a fine word for historians" -- Slavery : "The principle cause of the war" -- pt. 2. "Fighting for the property we gained by honest toil" -- Women : "Do the best you can" -- Hatred : "Vandal hordes" -- Pay : "Fighting for money instead of their country" -- pt. 3. "We are a band of brothers and native to the soil" -- Religion : "Let us meet in heaven" -- Comrades : "All my neighbor boys" -- Weariness : "We have suffered enough" -- Battle : "The elephant" -- Appendix.
Summary: "Places the stories of individual soldiers in the larger context of the Confederate war effort and follows them from the initial optimism of enlistment through the weariness of battle and defeat"--Jacket.Summary: Kenneth Noe examines the motives and subsequent performance of "later enlisters." He offers a nuanced view of men who have often been cast as less patriotic and less committed to the cause, rekindling the debate over who these later enlistees were, why they joined, and why they stayed and fought. --from publisher description.
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Book University of Texas At Tyler
Stacks - 3rd Floor 		E545 .N64 2010 (Browse shelf) Available 0000002129476

"Places the stories of individual soldiers in the larger context of the Confederate war effort and follows them from the initial optimism of enlistment through the weariness of battle and defeat"--Jacket.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-304) and index.

Introduction: What they did not fight for -- part 1. "When our rights were threatened" -- Duty, honor, country : "Patriotism is a fine word for historians" -- Slavery : "The principle cause of the war" -- pt. 2. "Fighting for the property we gained by honest toil" -- Women : "Do the best you can" -- Hatred : "Vandal hordes" -- Pay : "Fighting for money instead of their country" -- pt. 3. "We are a band of brothers and native to the soil" -- Religion : "Let us meet in heaven" -- Comrades : "All my neighbor boys" -- Weariness : "We have suffered enough" -- Battle : "The elephant" -- Appendix.

Kenneth Noe examines the motives and subsequent performance of "later enlisters." He offers a nuanced view of men who have often been cast as less patriotic and less committed to the cause, rekindling the debate over who these later enlistees were, why they joined, and why they stayed and fought. --from publisher description.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This is an absorbing study of the Confederate recruits who resisted the stirring call of "the Bonnie Blue Flag" in 1861 and joined the army after the first year of the war. Although their numbers amounted to 180,000, or 22.5 percent of all rebel soldiers, they have usually been overlooked or stereotyped by Civil War historians. Noe (Auburn Univ.) sets out to redress this imbalance and uncovers some very interesting and thought-provoking material in the process. He carefully examines the motives and subsequent performance of later enlistees to determine why these Southern men stayed home initially, only to join up later and fight with determination for the "lost cause." He finds that reluctant rebels went to war primarily to protect their families and property, and were deeply angered by emancipation and the pillaging and destruction of invading Yankee forces. Noe also points out that family and neighborhood, not conscription, drove these men to the colors, and he effectively refutes the claim that Confederates enlisting later were more likely to desert or perform poorly in battle. This excellent book provides a more complete portrait of Johnny Reb. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. E. M. Thomas Gordon College

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