As both the Union and the Confederacy began to build their armies for the coming conflict, a strange mood of excitement rippled across the divided nation. People in the North and the South had been struggling against each other for so long that it seemed like a great relief when it became clear that the clash between the two sides was going to be settled once and for all. In addition, many Americans of the nineteenth century held a romantic and glamorous idea of war. Young men all across the divided nation saw the coming conflict as a chance to fight for a heroic cause.

This enthusiasm for the approaching war also could be traced to the confidence that both sides felt about their ability to win. Southerners believed that the North would field an army of weaklings with no real appetite for fighting...