William Watson, being Scottish, a skilled artisan, a middle class non-citizen, a non-salve owner, his views are clear and without emotional baggage. His writings on the post-war situation and the secession movement are like a foriegn correspondant's. He reasons for volunteering for the Confederate Army are most probably the same reason the vast majority did, to win the approval of his friends and neighbors. The Southern rush to volunteer after Lincoln's call to invade the Confederacy, was like the volunteer attitude of Americans after Pearl Harbor. If you did not enlisted in some military service you were a nobody; and shame to the family that produced a 4-F male! I remember a distant cousin that was classified 4-F and it was discussed in whispered tones. I also can testify the attitude toward those that did not volunteer until late in the war or waited to be drafted...shirkers! skates! rear enchlon --- ---s!
David