Comments on: Executing Deserters in Civil War Times Magazine

By: Joseph privott

Joseph privott — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 04:33:43 +0000

Haha, I am looking for a topic to write my civ war hist final on, and found this. Dana is a friend of mine, cool.

By: How to make homemade Hardtack and More! | Edgartech

How to make homemade Hardtack and More! | Edgartech — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:36:02 +0000

[...] Teacher/Civil War Historian and it is well worth your time. The way I discovered the page was this short write-up about this larger piece concerning the execution of deserters during the Civil War, specifically on [...]

By: Kevin Levin

Kevin Levin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:04:00 +0000

Thanks Harry.

By: Harry

Harry — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:55:06 +0000

Kevin,

Confederate Death Sentences: A Reference Guide (Lowry and Laska)

By: Kevin Levin

Kevin Levin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:35:41 +0000

Good point, Harry and thanks for the reference to the Lowry book. I am going to look into it.

By: hjs

hjs — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:42:25 +0000

Tim,

The practice was not unique to Confederate armies. Keep in mind that R. E. Lee's own father drew the ire of George Washington when he recommended putting the heads of deserters on pikes. I see there is a new book coming out on death sentences in Confederate armies, co-edited by thomas Lowry, I believe.

By: Kevin Levin

Kevin Levin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:41:05 +0000

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the article. I thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing it. Admittedly, it is very difficult to draw conclusions from the amount of evidence that is available. I wasn't so surprised by the tendency among enlisted men to support such harsh punishments since I tend to think that we downplay the myriad ways in which white southerners identified with the Confederacy and the war.

By: Tim Ware

Tim Ware — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:38:34 +0000

Great Article. I found it interesting how some soldiers remembered an execution so vividly and felt saddened by the event while others didn't think much of it after what they had seen in battle. It's also amazing how the Confederacy would go to such great lengths to win the war, even if it meant executing a deserter.

By: Larry Cebula

Larry Cebula — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:14:06 +0000

When I first read the title of this post I thought that the Civil War Times was shooting people who dropped their subscriptions. Which even in these economic times seemed harsh.

By: msimons

msimons — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:27:12 +0000

Common practice for 100's of years in the Worlds Armies.

By: Sherree

Sherree — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:27:14 +0000

Excellent article, Kevin. Thanks for putting it online for greater circulation.

By: Kevin Levin

Kevin Levin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:57:50 +0000

Thanks Sherree. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it.