The Life of Billy Yank

The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union. By Bell Irvin Wiley. (Indianapolis: Charter Books, c. 1952. Pp. 454).

Bell Irvin Wiley’s The Life of Billy Yank follows his previous work, The Life of Johnny Reb, and attempts to describe the everyday life of the Union solider. Wiley’s was interested in writing a social history, and as such he pays little attention to the war’s course, and almost no attention to strategy and tactics. Instead, Wiley focuses on the day-to-day lives of the Union soldier. He draws from a variety of unread (at the time) letters and diaries, as well as the official reports, and is able to draw wide-reaching conclusions about the wartime experience of the Northern soldier. In painting his comprehensive picture of life in field for Union troops, Wiley makes a number of sweeping observations.

Wiley examines the camp life, battle experience, entertainment, discipline, food and religion of Union troops. He also examines their reactions to Southerners, the South, slavery and other Union soldiers. Wiley does recognize that it is very difficult to draw any large scale conclusions regarding Union soldiers, or really any group of soldiers, due to the vast territory covered and the variety of experiences across theatres. As such, the collective story of Billy Yank’s experience is one of many characteristics. Wiley’s broad spectrum of soldiers was able to pass on their experiences due to the stronger education system in the North, which provided a greater rate of literacy. Though their writing was hardly perfect, these letters provided a full range of opinions beyond simply the war. Union soldiers expressed their thoughts on politics, art, literature, home life, and any other aspect that seems to have come to their minds.

One of the most common traits of the Union soldiers’ life is excess. Because of the North’s relative industrial and organizational strength, Union soldiers had greater access to food, supplies, weapons and other equipment. In addition, the North’s greater population and need for troops provided many more soldiers. These greater numbers provided an extremely diverse body of men. These divergent experiences certainly contained a great deal of unsavory activity. These ranged from fairly benign activities such as swearing and gambling to more serious offenses such as theft and licentiousness. While various anecdotes of deviancy fill many of the book’s chapters, Wiley does note that many of these incidents, especially the more serious kind, are noteworthy in part due to their rarity. These types of transgressions may have been greater in number amongst Union soldiers than their Confederate counterparts, but this is mostly the result of the North’s greater numbers. These numbers also helped to provide the Union battle cry. Less famous than the “Rebel Yell,” Northern troops went into battle with a loud “hurrah,” a, “deep, manly” cry, according to one soldier (74).

Union troops were hardly unaware of their standing. Letters home described the deplorable condition of Southern life, in particular the weaknesses of Southern education. Wiley does note, with a hint of irony, that the most vociferous complaints of illiteracy came from some of the most poorly written letters. Not all reactions were negative. A number of soldiers found much to enjoy in the South, including its terrain, climate, and women. Some even married Southern women, or moved south after the war’s end. Yankees expressed a similar mix of opinions regarding blacks. They tended to give the greatest respect to Northern blacks who served in the army, but thought little of the freed slaves, many of whom they characterized as lazy.

As he wrote The Life of Billy Yank after having done his similar work on Confederate soldiers, Wiley cannot help but to offer a number of comparisons. Many of the excesses and deficiencies he charts within the Union ranks are mostly in relation to Wiley’s earlier study. Beyond that, Northern soldiers were better-educated, more cultured, less homogeneous and less religious than their Southern counterparts. While Confederate soldiers were more willing to consider the romance of their cause and demonstrate a real desire for the army life and battle, Union troops focused more on rank and finances. In contrast to the enthusiasm and spontaneity of Southern troops, Wiley characterized Northerners by their “tenacity, stubbornness en masse and machinelike efficiency,” (361). Wiley will not say that either was a particularly better soldier, He concludes though, perhaps most importantly, that the similarities between the two types of soldiers outweighed any differences.

Wiley’s even-handed treatment of Union soldiers provides a detailed and comprehensive book covering all aspects of daily life in the army. Though his overview is broad and occasionally over-generalized, Wiley does a good job of providing evidence and examples of the Union army’s diverse experience. Wiley leaves no aspect of army life uncovered if there is some evidence to draw upon, and the strong literacy of Union forces provides ample material for this work.

Texas Christian University Keith Altavilla

The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union. By Bell Irvin Wiley. New York: Charter Books, 1952. Pp. 13-454.

In a work similar in style and tone to his The Life of Johnny Reb, Bell Wiley sets out in his follow up work to become familiar with “Billy Yank.” Specifically he endeavors to “know what sort of men they were, what caused them to fight, how they reacted to combat, what they thought about the land and people of Dixie, how well they thought of their leaders, and how they compared with their opposites in gray.”(13) Wiley focuses on the trials and tribulations, the agonies and successes of the everyday soldier, whom he calls “the humble folk, the little people,” those that comprise the bulk of the American population, contribute the most to American society, but usually are left out of the majority of American history.

The motivations of troops to enlist in the Union varied as much as the makeup of its forces. Wiley cites the prevailing excitement, the lure of far away places, and the desire for change as the dominant motivations for volunteer enlistment. He recognizes the role economics played in the decision process. As the war continued, other Northern men were conscripted into the service. Wiley concludes “the great bulk of volunteers responded to mixed motives, none of which was deeply felt.”(39) This ambivalence of conviction carried over into the soldier’s motivation for fighting. Some Northerners only fought to maintain the Union and preserve democracy, while others endeavored to aid in the plight of African-Americans. Immigrants and natives deemed the former as proof to the world of the soundness of the democratic experiment.

Wiley describes the world of the soldier by examining the daily drills, types of shelter, clothing, food, equipment and the most prominent part of the soldier’s daily existence—the gun. Delivery of the necessary goods, whether it was the soldier’s pay or their uniforms, was often delayed or never received. As with many things, Billy Yank relied on himself, his supporters, private organizations, the land, or in some cases, Southern hospitality to stave off the problems associated with the lack or delay of necessities.

The supreme test of any Union soldier was his action or inaction in battle. Veterans became accustomed to the horrors of war early on, while the new recruits were not far behind in this realization. Cowardice and heroism pervaded the ranks of Billy Yank. To fend off fear, some soldiers channeled their feelings through profanity, shouts of defiance toward the rebels, or outright anger toward their indecisive leaders or their cowardly comrades. As it related to Billy Yank’s general battle performance, Wiley found the Union “improved as the war progressed.”(94)

As Wiley points out in several chapters, the Union soldier ran the gamut of emotion and experience—hatred for the South, embracing the South, contempt for African-Americans, kindliness toward African-Americans, inefficient medical treatment, effective medical treatment, lax discipline, capable discipline.

Although they were at war, many troops found ways to mentally escape the fray. Billy Yank did this by reading, making music, singing, engaging in sports and games, playing pranks, acting, debating, carving, knitting, creating newspapers, writing letters, or by simply indulging in conversation. These diversions, according to Wiley, stemmed from the irrepressible “urge to have to have fun” and “make tolerable a life which to most was thoroughly unattractive.(191)

Wiley devotes a good amount of space discussing the morality or lack the thereof in the Union camp. He finds many instances of profanity, gambling, and excessive drinking. Far less numerous, but no less real was the prevalence of pillaging, prostitution, and venereal disease. Wiley finds goodness in the form of religion, chaplain-led services, and religious tracts existed, but never in large measure. Undoubtedly, as Wiley points out, soldiers became interested in religion when the prospect of large scale fighting appeared.(274)

In the Union army, diversity abounded in age, race, nationality, creed, gender, temperament, and education. Though the majority of soldiers were eighteen to twenty-four, kids as young as twelve and adults as old as sixty five participated in the war. Education in the ranks ranged from illiterate to über-intellectual. Immigrants from many nations fought on behalf of the Union. Though the army was predominantly white, African-Americans and Indians played an active part in different areas of the war effort.(315-316) Wiley catalogues fifteen personality types, the most amusing being the Maladroit bumbler and the Artist-in-arms.

Wiley concludes the work by comparing Union and Confederate troops. Billy Yank was more literate, had a livelier interest in politics, and placed less emphasis in religion.(358) Though these differences exist, the author asserts the two had much more in common.

This work is well-researched, easily-readable, and blurs the traditional historic conception of Union troops.