Brothers One and All: Esprit de Corps in a Civil War Regiment.

Brothers One and All: Esprit de Corps in a Civil War Regiment. By Mark H. Dunkelman. Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004. Pp. xii, 344. $39.95, ISBN 0-8071-2978-X.)

The Civil War continues to afford new perspectives from which to explore the fundamental social, ideological, political, and military issues of America's sectional conflict. This study of esprit de corps in the 154th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment combines some of the insights of recent social and intellectual studies of Civil War soldiers with the renewed interest in military history of the war. Although much of Mark H. Dunkelman's analysis is familiar, he anchors our understanding of broad issues in the particular reality of a single regiment. In doing so he makes a strong case for the significance of regimental allegiance in maintaining soldiers' willingness to fight and sacrifice for the Union.

According to Dunkelman, esprit de corps developed mainly at the regimental level, where the common bonds of home communities and shared prewar experiences contributed to loyalty among comrades. Soldiers of the 154th Regiment, recruited from two counties in southwestern New York, "understood that the actions of their regiment would be closely scrutinized back home" (p. 21). Enduring daily hardships and the "lethal ordeal of battle" forged a regimental esprit that made comrades "surrogate family members" (pp. 98, 76). These bonds survived and even strengthened in postwar years, as regimental associations, reunions, memorials, and historical writings cemented the bonds of regimental pride.

Although Dunkelman portrays the 154th as typical, it was among the most homogeneous of Union regiments. In large measure the men shared similar ethnic and occupational backgrounds; most were native born and of British descent, and 74 percent were farmers. This regiment would thus be more likely than most to develop common bonds.

Having mined the voluminous archival and private manuscript sources relating to the 154th for a dozen articles and five previous monographs, Dunkelman knows this regiment intimately. His personal interest comes from his great-grandfather's service in the regiment. However, the regiment had an inherently interesting history, suffering heavy casualties at both Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, before participating in Sherman's march through Georgia.

Dunkelman mixes vivid anecdotes and vignettes with his thematic exposition. A few individual personalities of soldiers emerge from these vignettes, but the author does not exploit the full potential for individual characterization.

Although his overarching themes and his analysis of regimental esprit are convincing, at times the author stretches the point too far. He calls desertion "the ultimate repudiation of esprit de corps" and states that two brothers "had shown scorn for esprit de corps by deserting" (pp. 86, 225). In such cases, the decision to desert likely reflects personal motives rather than rejection of regimental bonds.

Such quibbles aside, this is a compelling account of esprit de corps in a single regiment. It offers a welcome perspective on the reasons that soldiers fought and died during the Civil War.

Western Washington University 

RANDALL C. JIMERSON