Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the Union Home Front

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By J. Matthew Gallman ’79

Published Jan. 21, 2016

As Northern civilians struggled to understand their role in the Civil War that was being fought hundreds of miles away, popular culture churned out articles, cartoons, and stories on wartime duty and citizenship. In Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the Union Home Front, J. Matthew Gallman ’79 examines how thousands of authors, artists, and readers created a new set of rules for navigating life in a nation at war. Gallman is a professor of history at the University of Florida.

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PAW's July/August 2025 issue cover, featuring a photo of people dressed in orange and black, marching in the P-rade, and the headline: Reunions, Back in Orange & Black.
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July 2025

On the cover: Wilton Virgo ’00 and his classmates celebrate during the P-rade.