New and Noteworthy---Citizen Volunteer Officers: Company Commanders Chosen By The Voters

Citizen-officers: The Union and Confederate Volunteer Junior Officer Corps in the American Civil War, Andrew S. Bledsoe, Louisiana State University Press, 352 pp., ten illustrations, ten graphs, three charts, bibliography, index, hardcover, $47.50.

From the Publisher:  From the time of the American Revolution, most junior officers in the American military attained their positions through election by the volunteer soldiers in their company, a tradition that reflected commitment to democracy even in times of war. By the outset of the Civil War, citizen-officers had fallen under sharp criticism from career military leaders who decried their lack of discipline and efficiency in battle. Andrew S. Bledsoe’s Citizen­-Officers explores the role of the volunteer officer corps during the Civil War and the unique leadership challenges they faced when military necessity clashed with the antebellum democratic values of volunteer soldiers.

Bledsoe’s innovative evaluation of the lives and experiences of nearly 2,600 Union and Confederate company-grade junior officers from every theater of operations across four years of war reveals the intense pressures placed on these young leaders. Despite their inexperience and sometimes haphazard training in formal military maneuvers and leadership, citizen-officers frequently faced their first battles already in command of a company. These intense and costly encounters forced the independent, civic-minded volunteer soldiers to recognize the need for military hierarchy and to accept their place within it. Thus concepts of American citizenship, republican traditions in American life, and the brutality of combat shaped, and were in turn shaped by, the attitudes and actions of citizen-officers.

Through an analysis of wartime writings, post-war reminiscences, company and regimental papers, census records, and demographic data, Citizen­-Officers illuminates the centrality of the volunteer officer to the Civil War and to evolving narratives of American identity and military service.

Andrew S. Bledsoe is assistant professor of history at Lee University.
Blurbs: 

"Citizen-Officers fills a major gap in the literature on the American Civil War. It offers perceptive analysis of volunteers who filled junior ranks among officers in both the Union and Confederate armies... [C]areful attention to the republican example of disinterested service, the transition from civilian to military cultures, the impact of combat, and change over time, among other virtues, lends distinction to this book." -Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Union War and John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War, the University of Virginia

"As Andrew Bledsoe shows in his exceptional Citizen-Officers, managing civilian soldiers who were fiercely resistant to military rule required intelligent and inspired leadership. There were plenty of martinets and incompetents who were despised by the troops, but in time they were cast aside. The vast majority of lieutenants and captains matured on the job, employing a tough pragmatism that helped transform unruly volunteers into disciplined killers.Citizen-Officers is an essential book that deserves a place alongside the classic soldier studies by James McPherson and Joseph Glatthaar." -Peter S. Carmichael, author of The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War, and Reunion and director of the Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College

"...Bledsoe provides a nuanced and insightful analysis of the overlooked but essential aspect of junior officers in Civil War armies. His study teaches us a great deal about how Civil War armies worked. It also addresses a fundamental question about nineteenth-century conflicts-building responsive volunteer militaries from a democratic citizenry that rejected natural leadership and the aristocratic pretensions of the Old World. Bledsoe persuasively shows how an adaptable and creative cadre of men, pulled from civilian life, matured into effective leaders, and, in the process, how democratic nations create and sustain popular wars." -Aaron Sheehan-Dean, author of Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia and Fred C. Frey Professor, Louisiana State University

"...[E]ssential reading for anyone seeking to more fully understand the leadership of the most fundamental building blocks of Civil War armies." -Civil War Books and Authors

From the time of the American Revolution, most junior officers in the American military attained their positions through election by the volunteer soldiers in their company, a tradition that reflected commitment to democracy even in times of war. By the outset of the Civil War, citizen-officers had fallen under sharp criticism from career military leaders who decried their lack of discipline and efficiency in battle. Andrew S. Bledsoe’s Citizen-­Officers explores the role of the volunteer officer corps during the Civil War and the unique leadership challenges they faced when military necessity clashed with the antebellum democratic values of volunteer soldiers. 

 

Bledsoe’s innovative evaluation of the lives and experiences of nearly 2,600 Union and Confederate company-grade junior officers from every theater of operations across four years of war reveals the intense pressures placed on these young leaders. Despite their inexperience and sometimes haphazard training in formal military maneuvers and leadership, citizen-officers frequently faced their first battles already in command of a company. These intense and costly encounters forced the independent, civic-minded volunteer soldiers to recognize the need for military hierarchy and to accept their place within it. Thus concepts of American citizenship, republican traditions in American life, and the brutality of combat shaped, and were in turn shaped by, the attitudes and actions of citizen-officers.

 

Through an analysis of wartime writings, postwar reminiscences, company and regimental papers, census records, and demographic data, Citizen­-Officers illuminates the centrality of the volunteer officer to the Civil War and to evolving narratives of American identity and military service.

- See more at: http://lsupress.org/books/detail/citizen-officers/#sthash.2McbUlR9.dpuf

From the time of the American Revolution, most junior officers in the American military attained their positions through election by the volunteer soldiers in their company, a tradition that reflected commitment to democracy even in times of war. By the outset of the Civil War, citizen-officers had fallen under sharp criticism from career military leaders who decried their lack of discipline and efficiency in battle. Andrew S. Bledsoe’s Citizen-­Officers explores the role of the volunteer officer corps during the Civil War and the unique leadership challenges they faced when military necessity clashed with the antebellum democratic values of volunteer soldiers. 

 

Bledsoe’s innovative evaluation of the lives and experiences of nearly 2,600 Union and Confederate company-grade junior officers from every theater of operations across four years of war reveals the intense pressures placed on these young leaders. Despite their inexperience and sometimes haphazard training in formal military maneuvers and leadership, citizen-officers frequently faced their first battles already in command of a company. These intense and costly encounters forced the independent, civic-minded volunteer soldiers to recognize the need for military hierarchy and to accept their place within it. Thus concepts of American citizenship, republican traditions in American life, and the brutality of combat shaped, and were in turn shaped by, the attitudes and actions of citizen-officers.

 

Through an analysis of wartime writings, postwar reminiscences, company and regimental papers, census records, and demographic data, Citizen­-Officers illuminates the centrality of the volunteer officer to the Civil War and to evolving narratives of American identity and military service.

- See more at: http://lsupress.org/books/detail/citizen-officers/#sthash.2McbUlR9.dpuf