Dr. Foote, in my own studies I focus heavily on concepts of honor and their influence, but as far as the US goes, my readings are heavily towards the South, especially by the mid-century point. How, exactly, would a Northern soldier's understanding of 'honor' contrast with his southern counterpart? Were there similar racial and social/class stratifications, or would it have been quantified differently?

My great-great-great grandfather served in the 116th PA and died of wounds incurred at Fredericksburg. The 116th's role in the attack was described in a comment by u/dandan_noodles mostly as getting slaughtered by Confederate fire. How did units maintain cohesion under such conditions, and how did it change as the Union moved from volunteers to conscripts? How were those who escaped such battlefields viewed and treated both formally and informally?

Dr. Foote, what an absolute pleasure to have you here: thank you! Since it is a hot-button topic right now (and that's putting it mildly = ), could you possibly take a moment to contextualize the appearance of the Confederate flag in American culture post-1865? There has been a great deal of discussion on this sub about when US citizens started to fly the Confederate flag as a form of cultural identity, and how that coincided with flare-ups in racial violence and conflict in the US. Has your research lent anything to this discussion of how the Confederate flag has been used as something of a lever to pry up Confederate nationalism (i.e., racial discrimination and civil rights opposition) at especially divisive or violent periods throughout US history, from Reconstruction onward?

Something that has always fascinated me about the Civil War and POWs is the whole 'parole' system. The whole concept of prisoner exchange itself is a bit strange to the modern eye, but the idea of having a prisoner get paroled is doubly so, as it very much is an honor system.

So up until the exchange system broke down later in the war, how effective was the parole system? How often was it violated? For soldiers paroled, what did their respective armies do with them, exactly?

Professor Foote, I would personally love to hear about the mass escape you mentioned. I call myself an amateur historian and I tend to jump around quite a bit in what era I'm researching. I used to be very interested in the stories of the civil war both military, civilian and pow, and I am rather ashamed to admit that one must have slipped by me. Would love to either hear about it or if you can reference any books on the subject or both I would greatly appreciate it.

Two of my 2nd great grandfathers were Confederate cavalry officers who both ended up as POWs and one of them was captured in July 1863 and sent to the officer's prison on Johnson's Island. He claimed they had to dig trenches and pull snow over themselves on freezing nights, but I've also read that Johnson's Island had one of the lowest mortality rates of any Civil War prison. How did officer's prisons generally compare to regular POW camps in both the North and South?

Dr. Foote, we are so happy to have you here. Thank you!

I have a number of questions from which you can pick and choose.

• If the South was collapsing from the inside during the war, when did this collapse begin and at what point did it reach "critical mass" so to speak? Was the South doomed from the beginning due to structural issues or did it only reach a collapsing point at the end?
• What is honor and how did it differ between the North and the South?
• Who were the gentlemen and who were the roughs? What different roles did they play in the war? Did they significantly impact the nature or result of the war? If so, how?
• How did you use gender as a frame of reference? What led you to consider it? Why is it important? What suggestions do you have for those who might find it difficult to incorporate it in their field?
• I know a guy who says General Burnside gets a bad rap. Is he right? Didn't Burnside mess up at Antietam even before becoming the commander of the Army of the Potomac?

Thanks Again!

Did ideals of manliness differ in the army depending upon where units were drawn from? Did immigrants, rural Yankees and inhabitants of 'the old Northwest' have different conceptions of honor and manliness? How did this play out in the army?

Are you aware of mass escapes of captured black Union soldiers?

Were captured black units held together in the same group or were they quickly dispersed by the Confederacy to defeat any cohesion they had acquired?

Were captured white officers of black units indeed summarily executed by Confederate forces?

Thank you for participating in this online forum, Dr. Foote. Could you explain the historical examples that both sides drew on to guide their treatment of war? What examples were there to follow in setting up a prisoner of war camp in a civil war? What did people of the period generally understand the term prisoner of war to mean?

Are you related to the late Shelby Foote?

Welcome to Reddit, Dr. Foote! Two questions:

1. Who is your favorite PhD advisee and why is it me?

2. My research on Civil War Arkansas has found that the collapse of Confederate authority there began by early 1863. Union forces were spread too thin to maintain control over areas Confederate forces had abandoned, leaving no authority besides the local guerrilla bands. Did other areas experience similar periods of anarchy as the larger Confederacy fell apart?

Why did so many POWs die while imprisoned in both the North and the South? Would you characterize these deaths more as the result of mostly the unavoidable consequences of war, ordinary negligence, reckless disregard, or perhaps sometimes intentional? How would you compare Civil War POW camp conditions to WWII POW camp conditions for American soldiers in Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan?

Did the soldiers in the Confederate armies captured by Ulysses Grant in the West honor the terms of their parole? Were these particular armies effectively destroyed or did they essentially turn around and fight again?

How much, if any, voluntary local help did the 3000 escapees receive from sympathizers during their sojourn? What kind of help might they receive?

How well studied is rape by Northern or Southern soldiers during the war? What sorts of primary documents are even available for such a topic?

Dr. Foote, the impression I've gotten from my reading on antebellum America is that Southern culture was much more honor-oriented than Northern; would you say that's a correct assessment? What bearing did these different cultural attitudes toward honor have on soldiers' and civilians' behavior in the war?

Hello, thanks for doing this AMA. Quick question: I have seen things mentioning that Irish descendants in the army of Union and that of Confederacy fought with each other in some battles. Would a soldier in this context still feel honoured and comfortable to accept medals when he literally killed his own Irish compatriots? Was there any clear evidence proving that a person may feel depressed in this case?

Who exactly made the decision to stop prisoner exchanges? Was it Lincoln himself, Congress, or was it an Army decision? Were there debates leading up to the decision?

How was this decision received by the Northern public?

I don't know if your familiar with ["The March"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_March_(novel) by e.l. Doctorow, but that was my first exposure to Sherman's march to the sea and the state of the south towards the end of the war. I read it a while ago, but theres a lot of time spent mentioning caravans of people leaving de-settled areas or just trying to get away from armies on the move. I always wondered, where did all these people go? What was migration and movement like towards the end of the war?

I thought of a few more questions!

• What motivations did those who helped escaped POWs have? Who were the primary people that helped them?
• What was the most harrowing escape narrative you discovered?

How was the status of being a POW understood with respect to a man's honor? Was it dishonorable to have been a prisoner of war?

Dr. Foote,

Thanks for doing this.

We see Southern conceptions of honor being shaped by the war and capitalized upon by proponents of the Lost Cause movement to the point that if this AMA were to escape the confines of AskHistorians and make its way to the rest of reddit you would undoubtedly be faced with questions and assertions trying to downplay slavery as the primary cause of the US Civil War.

It seems that ideas of honor among Union soldiers haven't translated through to today in any similar way. Is that a fair statement? If so, why is that?

I find it odd that popular discourse on the war doesn't tend to capture conceptions of honor in the abolition of slavery and preservation of the Union. The Civil Rights movement, in particular, seems to provide fertile ground for such an idea to take root.

Was the Lost Cause just powerful enough to dampen Northern honor in the popular imagination?

Dr. Foote,

Was there any sort of official "code of ethics" or rules-list for the handling and appropriate treatment of prisoners of war, or were decisions left up to the discretion of individual members of the capturing force?

Greetings, Dr. Foote! Though I have moved away from College Station, I'm glad I can stay in touch through this activity. As a historian of the astronaut corps, I had the chance to interview eight astronauts who had firsthand experience with the training I was studying. My question for you is: if you could step back in time and interview one person who participated in the American Civil War for these books you have written, who would it be?

Thank you for joining us Dr. Foote!

Just a quick reminder for the readers of the AMA. It is going up in advance to allow for a bit of a build up of questions, while Dr. Foote will return tomorrow (Tuesday) to begin answering them.

And additionally, for those interested in further reading on what Dr. Foote will be discussing, please do make sure to check out her works:

• The Yankee Plague: Escaped Union Prisoners and the Collapse of the Confederacy
• The Gentlemen and the Roughs: Violence, Honor, and Manhood in the Union Army

As well as her guest appearance on the /r/AskHistorians Podcast, which will be released next month.

Hello Professor, thanks for doing this.

Would you say that men's sense of honour is lever which leaders pulled to make them fight?

Secondly, did the war change men's sense of honour?

Dr Foote, thank you for doing this! I hope I'm not too late.

What's your opinion on wirz? Certainly andersonville was an awful place, but did he really deserve to be hung?

Sorry if this is a tad OT, but what would you say were the main differences of the economy of the North and South? Why was the cotton trade unable to give the South as much economic power as the more industrialized North? What other significant industries were present in the South at the time?