One man abandoning his post in such a manner would be cowardice when it happened on a unit level it simply became a rout.ĭesertion proved a far more difficult problem for both sides. The subsequent retreat disintegrated into a wild, disorderly effort to escape slaughter. Perhaps one of the reasons cowardice does not appear as often is that running in the face of the enemy often occurred on a unit-wide basis as some portion of the line became physically or morally overwhelmed and gave way.
When prosecuted the penalty for cowardice could be harsh, with death by firing squad the most extreme sanction. Often cowardice in the face of the enemy was something observed by a soldier’s comrades, and even if never prosecuted, it tainted a man’s reputation for the remainder of his life if he was fortunate enough to survive the war. However, statistically Civil War soldiers spent fifty days in camp for every day of combat, and desertion was by far a camp phenomenon as opposed to a decision made in the heat of battle. To be sure, the image of Henry Fleming fleeing the battlefield in Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage had its basis in historical fact and undoubtedly occurred. While deserters numbered in the hundreds of thousands, deserting in the face of the enemy was far less common a crime, or at least not as prominent in the records that survive. Cowardice in the civil war was defined as deserting in the face of the enemy. Thus, in addition to the logistical challenges of training and equipping these armies, military and civilian officials faced the challenge of keeping the army intact, and throughout the war desertion posed a problem for both sides.ĭefined as leaving the military with the intent not to return, desertion differs from cowardice. Drawn from every corner of America, both armies were overwhelmingly volunteer forces comprised of men unfamiliar with war and the rigors of military life. The Union army is estimated to have been slightly over 2 million men. Historians concede that exact numbers are unattainable, but estimates of total Confederates under arms is between 800,000 and 1,200,000. From a small regular army of approximately 16,000 in 1860, the two sides put about three million men in the field during the course of the four-year conflict.
The American Civil War brought an unprecedented increase in the size of armies in North America.
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