"Places the stories of individual soldiers in the larger context of the Confederate war effort and follows them from the initial optimism of enlistment through the weariness of battle and defeat"--Jacket. Kenneth Noe examines the motives and subsequent performance of "later enlisters." He offers a nuanced view of men who have often been cast as less patriotic and less committed to the cause, rekindling the debate over who these later enlistees were, why they joined, and why they stayed and fought. --from publisher description.

Introduction: What they did not fight for -- pt. 1. "When our rights were threatened" -- Duty, honor, country : "Patriotism is a fine word for historians" -- Slavery : "The principle cause of the war" -- pt. 2. "Fighting for the property we gained by honest toil" -- Women : "Do the best you can" -- Hatred : "Vandal hordes" -- Pay : "Fighting for money instead of their country" -- pt. 3. "We are a band of brothers and native to the soil" -- Religion : "Let us meet in heaven" -- Comrades : "All my neighbor boys" -- Weariness : "We have suffered enough" -- Battle : "The elephant" -- Appendix.