Union Jacks

by Bennett, Michael J.

• ISBN13: 9780807828700
• ISBN10: 080782870X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

Historians have given a great deal of attention to the lives and experiences of Civil War soldiers, but surprisingly little is known about navy sailors who participated in the conflict. Michael J. Bennett remedies the longstanding neglect of Civil War seamen in this comprehensive assessment of the experience of common Union sailors from 1861 to 1865. To resurrect the voices of the "Union Jacks," Bennett combed sailors' diaries, letters, and journals. He finds that the sailors differed from their counterparts in the army in many ways. They tended to be a rougher bunch of men than the regular soldiers, drinking and fighting excessively. Those who were not foreign-born, escaped slaves, or unemployed at the time they enlisted often hailed from the urban working class rather than from rural farms and towns. In addition, most sailors enlisted for pragmatic rather than ideological reasons. Bennett's examination provides a look into the everyday lives of sailors and illuminates where they came from, why they enlisted, and how their origins shaped their service. By showing how these Union sailors lived and fought on the sea, Bennett brings an important new perspective to our understanding of the Civil War.

Author Biography

Michael J. Bennett is an attorney and independent scholar living in University Heights, Ohio

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Illustrations	viii
Preface	ix
1 Dissenters from the American Mood: Why Men Joined the United States Navy during the Civil War	1	(27)
2 Any Man Can Become a Soldier: The Making of Union Sailors	28	(26)
3 Ships of Fools: The Sailor's Experience on the Union Blockade	54	(23)
4 The Devil's Own Purgatory: The Experience of Gunboatmen in the Mississippi Squadron	77	(22)
5 All Hands Drunk and Rioting: The Maritime Culture of Union Sailors	99	(27)
6 Saving Jack: Religion, Union Sailors, and the United States Christian Commission	126	(29)
7 Frictions: Shipboard Relations between White and Contraband Union Sailors	155	(27)
8 My Youthfull Emagination of Hell: The Face of Battle for Union Sailors	182	(27)
Epilogue	209	(2)
Notes	211	(96)
Selected Bibliography	307	(20)
Index	327