Student Essay on Abraham Lincoln's War Aims Compared to William Sherman and Walt Whitman

Abraham Lincoln's War Aims Compared to William Sherman and Walt Whitman

Summary:   An examination of Abraham Lincoln's war aims, as he described in his Gettysburg Address, and how they actually differed from those of the poet Walt Whitman and the Union general William T. Sherman.

Within a short amount of time after the election of Abraham Lincoln to the office of presidency, the south had seceded from the Union and brought on the beginning of the American Civil War. In 1863, the third year of the war, Lincoln had given a speech of the sacred battle ground at Gettysburg, most notably called the Gettysburg Address. In it, he expressed sincerity for those who fought and died there and most of all, proclaimed his aims of war itself. Walt Whitman, a celebrated poet of the time, traveled from hospital to hospital witnessing the operations of wounded soldiers and also the horrific scenes of death and amputation. His views were very much different than those of Abraham Lincoln and though not evident, were still noticeable in his writings. Last, none other than William T. Sherman himself, a Federal Army General, disclosed letters sent between him and the Confederate General, J. B. Hood and also letters sent between him and the mayor of Atlanta, James M. Calhoun. In them, he expresses his opinions about the war which, not-so-surprisingly, is very similar to Lincoln's.

Lincoln above all solely wanted to save the Union. It was his philosophy that he did not want to rid the country of or promote the institution of slavery, but to prevent the introduction of slavery into new territories and the preserving of the Union. Lincoln, very evidently, stood neutral on the issue of slavery, saying he wouldn't agree with both 1) men who wouldn't save the Union unless they could save slavery at the same time and 2) men who wouldn't save the Union unless they could destroy slavery also (276). This most likely proved to be a huge factor in the war because Lincoln was not choosing sides, but he was more being the mediator. Lincoln proclaimed that the main purpose of the Civil War was to test whether or not a nation founded on the principle of "equality for all" could exist. He then stated that all the men who fought and died on the battle ground at Gettysburg shall not have died in vain due to the fact that they helped to fight a cause for a new nation with a new birth of freedom, most notably meaning the existence of a "government of the people, by the people, for the people" that won't perish from the earth (277).

William Sherman seemed kind of obsessed with the idea of defeating the Confederacy. He seemed even more focused on the removal of the inhabitants of Atlanta, but then again, it was what the correspondences between him and General Hood and James Calhoun were about. Nevertheless, he was very focused on the removal of the population and he gives very adequate reasons for doing so. As a reader, it's never really certain whether Sherman had a "side" on the issue of slavery because as far as I could tell, you can only really tell his main concern is the preserving of the Union (much like Lincoln's). This is extremely evident because his intentions for the city of Atlanta were to utilize the city for fortification and to take advantage of it to help win the war. So I guess in a way his view of the war is similar to that of Lincoln's because of the fact that they both have no apparent decision on the existence of slavery. However, on the other hand, if you have to assume anything, it would be that Sherman was one of the people, that Lincoln referred to, who wanted to preserve the Union while getting rid of slavery; that was something that Lincoln didn't endorse in his war aims. Ultimately, Sherman probably didn't entirely share the same views as Lincoln because of the fact that he was a general of the Union army who's enemy is the Confederacy, whereas Lincoln is the president of the United States and he can't consider the Confederate states, although seceded from the Union, an "enemy."

Walt Whitman was a poet who visited many different hospitals noting his personal experiences and sights of the wounded men. He witnessed many horrific cases of wounded men and felt compelled to sit and keep them company by any means necessary. He, at first, didn't feel like he was doing any good for the wounded and dying, but "he cannot leave them" (294). Later on, after he has some money, he feels like he can do more good for them. His statement that "I am more and more surprised at the very great proportion of youngsters from fifteen to twenty-one in the army" seems to me that he doesn't really like the idea of the war at all. By him saying this, it almost seems as if he feels extremely bad that these young boys are being forced to become men, and many of them are literally being heavily wounded, if not having death brought upon them. Even still, it's certainly not clear in his writings his stand on the war itself although he was seeing these things and I'm sure he didn't care for it much. Nevertheless, he says "they are nearly all young men, and far more American than is generally supposed - I should say nine-tenths are native-born" (296). This statement seemingly sheds light onto his thoughts that many white men are being wounded and dying for their respective causes. With that being said, it's hard to say that he would've agreed with Lincoln's view of war and that he was willing to pay whatever the cost of preserving the Union because of the fact he's actually witnessing the horrific effects of the war. I doubt that Lincoln took into consideration the effects of the war that Whitman, along with the surgeons and nurses, was witnessing. This is most likely the reason why he doesn't agree with Lincoln too.

Overall, it did not seem like much of the population agreed with Lincoln's war aims because of the division of the country. Half of the country felt one way while the other half felt the entire opposite way. However, I'm sure there are a few that shared the same thoughts that Lincoln did, but that group did not include William Sherman or Walt Whitman.