Why did people enlist In the civil war?

Answer 1

Men enlisted as volunteers to both sides of the US Civil War for various reasons. Initially, for the North, young men enlisted as patriots who believed that they were saving the US from collapse. They also enlisted to support their home states. It needs to be said that on both sides, the governors of each state were required to furnish troops. The Union had no standing army to speak of and neither did the South. When permitted, free Blacks enlisted to fight slavery.For the South, recruits saw the North as a menacing King George, in a manner of speaking. They knew the people of the South were a minority within the US. Some saw the war for "Southern Independence" as part 2 of the Revolutionary War. Others sought to obey the governors of their states and surely many saw that their slave based society had created a way of life that the North threatened.

Now in fairness, once Northern men were in the army, they believed they were also fighting against slavery, although few enlisted for that cause.

Others, mostly people of " political leadership" from both sides saw war as a gallantry to perform and wished to be commissioned as generals or other high ranking officers.

As the bloody war worn on, however, the gallantry of war faded as the death tolls ran to unreal levels that no one had ever expected.