Digital Commons Network^™

Southern Honor, Confederate Warfare : Southern Antebellum Cultural Values In Confederate Military Operations, 1861-1865., Matthew D. Goldberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role antebellum southern cultural paradigms played in Confederate military operations during the American Civil War. The prewar honor culture of the white southern male elite was intensely focused on chivalric values of courage, masculinity, piety, pride, contempt for cowardice, and loyalty. When war broke out between the United States and Confederacy, the southern elite moved from their prewar position as economic, political, and social leaders to military commanders. The violent and militaristic culture that characterized the prewar southern elite guided their actions as the military leadership of the Confederacy. Using the written record of the Confederate …