Would the average confederate soldier been rich enough to own slaves?
Historical estimates are that 1 in 10 Confederate soldiers directly owned slave. That was
double the rate of the rest of the South.
Anyway, those other 9 out of 10 soldiers? Yep, they were fighting to maintain slavery. Again! The states were explicit that was their goal in seceding.
From Mississippi's declaration of secession, right at the start:
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.
South Carolina:
For twenty-five years this agitation has been steadily increasing, until it has now secured to its aid the power of the common Government. Observing the forms of the Constitution, a sectional party has found within that Article establishing the Executive Department, the means of subverting the Constitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free," and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.
Discussions of slavery are all over the declarations by Georgia, Texas, Virgina as well. (
The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States | American Battlefield Trust)
The issue of slavery dominated public discussion, law, debate and politics for
decades before it resulted in a war. It was a major factor and point of discussion in the 1860 election (e.g. Lincoln's "House Divided" speech, referenced in the SC declaration above).
Southern whites firmly believed that the South would face an economic and social disaster if slavery was abolished; among other factors, they were terrified that ending slavery would unleash blacks, resulting in widespread murder and rape, not to mention dilute the political power of whites. That's why before the war, they were constantly pushing to ensure that any new states added to the US allowed slavery, because they knew if those new states abolished slavery, it would be harder to maintain it in the slave states.
The Confederate Army used slaves to transport goods and build defenses; they captured escaped slaves to return them to their "owners;" they must have known that the official policy was to murder any captured black soldiers for "servile insurrection," as they carried out those orders.
In 1865, the Confederates were losing badly. In discussions about whether to conscript slaves into war, Senator Hunter (VA) said “What did we go to war for, if not to protect our property?” (He wasn't talking about land, he was talking about people.) Confederate soldiers referred to protecting slavery in their letters.
Again: Southerners thoroughly believed that slavery was justifiable. Thus and again,
they did not try to hide the fact that they were fighting to maintain slavery. Why are you?
I also doubt that most Union troops gave a rats ass about freeing the slaves.To them it was probably a war they didn't want to fight and die in.
Thanks for completely undercutting your own point.
Union soldiers' views ran the full gamut from racist to abolitionist. There was certainly plenty of racism in the North. However, they pretty much all knew that a primary cause of the Civil War was the dispute over slavery, and that if the North won, slavery would be outlawed throughout the US.
Again... The topic was disputed for decades. The 1860 election was a referendum on slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation made it clear that slavery was a key factor. It wasn't a secret.
It's downright routine for soldiers to fight not for their own personal benefit, but for the interests of their leaders. I could literally be here
all day listing wars where the rank and file soldiers were fighting for causes that had nothing to do with them.
