They Fought the War Together: Southeastern Ohio's Soldiers and Their Families During the Civil War

Abstract

Soldiers from southeastern Ohio and their families fought the Civil War (1861–1865) in a reciprocal relationship, sustaining one another throughout the course of the conflict. The soldiers needed support from their families at home. The families, likewise, relied upon the constant contact via letters for assurance that the soldiers were surviving and doing well in the ranks. This dissertation qualitatively examines the correspondence between soldiers and their families in southeastern Ohio, developing six major themes of analysis including early war patriotism, war at the front, war at home, political unrest at home, common religion, and the shared cost of the war. The source base for the project included over one thousand letters and over two hundred and fifty newspaper articles, all of which contribute to a sense of the mood of southeastern Ohioans as they struggled to fight the war together. The conclusions of the dissertation show that soldiers and their families developed a cooperative relationship throughout the war. This dissertation helps to provide a corrective to the overly romantic perspective on the Civil War that it was fought between divided families. Rather, Civil War soldiers and their families fought the war in shared suffering and in support of one another.