United States Military Justice in the Civil War

Despite its relative invisibility to the public, the administration of military justice during the Civil War played a vital role in maintaining the discipline necessary for Union military success. While some scholars have criticized the Union military courts as arbitrary and excessively harsh, others have defended it as a necessary means of maintaining order in the face of unprecedented challenges faced by the Union. Drawing on extensive primary research, this history presents a compelling narrative based on a statistical analysis of 5,000 Union military trials, court records, historical legal publications, and insights from contemporary historians. This work analyzes the relationship between alcohol misuse and misconduct, covers the differing approaches to sexual misconduct across the services, and exposes the uneven and sometimes unfair application of military justice. Offering a balanced perspective on the struggle between maintaining discipline and protecting the legal rights of service members, this history is the first of its kind.

R. Gregory Lande is an adult, forensic and addiction trained psychiatrist in Orlando, Florida, a retired U.S. Army medical officer and an independent scholar whose interest in historical research focuses on the human side of America’s Civil War era.

R. Gregory Lande
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 254
Bibliographic Info: 29 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9584-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5387-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction 5
One
­Court-Martial Law in the Civil War 11
Two
Unauthorized Absences 27
Three
Alcohol and Misconduct 68
Four
Violent Misconduct 129
Five
Subordinate Military Crimes 186
Bibliography 221
Index 237