Introduction

The introduction offers context for the experiences of Union soldiers by examining mid-nineteenth century political culture. During the war itself, officers and men engaged in a spirited and highly publicized debate over the meaning of loyalty. Republicans came to identify true loyalty as obedience to the wartime measures of the Lincoln administration and vigorous engagement in the public sphere, while Democrats proclaimed loyalty to the Constitution and the cultural norms of an anti-partisan military.

We Can No Longer Keep Silent

This chapter details the army's collective proclamation of political sentiment in early 1863. Following the disaster at Fredericksburg and general frustration during the "emancipation winter," a growing number of anti-war Copperheads on the home front convinced junior officers to mobilize the army for political action. In a series of several dozen political resolutions adopted by regiments throughout the Army of the Potomac, the officers and men in the ranks proclaimed themselves in the nation's press to be the arbiters of loyalty and guardians of civic virtue. In the process, they endorsed the Lincoln administration and broadly supported its efforts to weaken the Confederacy through conscription, emancipation, and "hard war." This campaign elicited a backlash from Democratic men at home and in the ranks, but the publication of such a vehement political stance from the army throughout Northern newspapers drowned them out.

Copperheads and Half-Loyal Regular Officers

This chapter addresses the political controversies that continued to swirl around General Meade in early 1864. His summons before the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War opened the political rift within the high command. In the army's lower ranks, however, the principal issue was that of reenlistment and army reorganization, and this chapter dissects the results of an army-wide debate over whether to sign up again for the duration of the war or return home. Political considerations took a backseat in the debate. Those who did not reenlist included men from both Republican and Democratic political persuasions. The chapter also discusses efforts by junior officers, some of whom had left the army, to malign the high command and tie it to notions of Democratic disloyalty in the pages of exposé books and opinion pieces.

What the Sentiment of the Army Really Is

This chapter begins with an analysis of how General Ulysses Grant's Overland Campaign drained the Army of the Potomac of much of its veteran core of officers and enlisted men. The survivors, hunkered in the trenches of Petersburg, watched as recruits and conscripts refilled the army's ranks. The chapter then focuses on the spirited contest over the 1864 presidential election between Lincoln and McClellan. Veterans who had not reenlisted organized paramilitary campaign clubs at home and communicated with those still at the front. When it came time to vote, the army's reenlisted soldiers, many of whom had fought under McClellan, largely spurned him. Those who had served longest viewed the election through the lens of loyalty, and McClellan had consorted with treason by aligning with the opposition party.

Epilogue

The epilogue presents soldiers' reactions to Lincoln's assassination before discussing veterans' political activity in the immediate postwar period. For men who had come to predicate loyalty on obedience to the sitting administration, Andrew Johnson's rise to the presidency frustrated many and spurred them to form pro-Republican fraternal groups. These groups, including the Soldiers' and Sailors' National Union League and the Boys in Blue, exerted significant influence in the 1866 midterm elections and helped Republicans in their contest against presidential reconstruction.

A Devotion Almost Idolatry

This chapter details the aftermath of the 1862 Maryland Campaign and the spirited debate within the Army of the Potomac over the preliminary emancipation proclamation. These opinions carried weight in the 1862 midterm congressional and state elections. Some army figures ran for political office, including General James S. Wadsworth. However, voting laws pushed by Democrats generally prohibited soldier absentee ballots, a fact that offended many in the ranks. The chapter then discusses the overwhelmingly negative reaction of officers and men to McClellan's removal from command, which prompted them to spurn the political class even further.

The Hope of the Nation

This chapter discusses the rage militaire that spurred citizens to enlist in the Union Army, as well as the image of General George B. McClellan's within that patriotism. It details early attempts to root out disloyalty in the officer corps and lays out the consequences of the army's first significant campaign on the Virginia Peninsula. Saddled with ill health and frustrated by defeat, the Army of the Potomac by mid-1862 struggled to rationalize its predicament, and many ended up blaming the broad class of "politicians" at home for meddling. Among the army's most politically aware officers and men, opinions differed sharply over whether McClellan was victim or villain, with some pro-Republican men arguing that "hard war" and emancipation would be necessary.

Erase Every Devil of Them

This chapter dissects the effects of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg on the army's organization as well as the army's activity during the crucial 1863 gubernatorial election season. Some Republican officers and men, including many who had led the war of words against Copperheads previously, knew of General McClellan's political positions and already considered him a threat to Northern unity in the struggle. The vast majority of the army still revered him, however. When General George Meade oversaw an effort to collect an army-wide testimonial of affection for McClellan, several Republican officers criticized the move in the press and ignited a partisan controversy. Soon after the scheme fell apart, McClellan endorsed the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania governor, an act which infuriated the army and disabused many of the general's previous admirers. The chapter assesses the army vote in the Ohio, Maine, and Wisconsin governor races as well.