The First Republican Army

John H. Matsui argues that the Army of Virginia, led by John Pope, represented the first Republican-led army, heralding the turn toward emancipation and a harder war against enemy civilians. “Republican Army” means embracing the ideals of the Republican party—principally the Radicals—and not of the republicans who believed in representative government. Formed in 1862 before Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, the Army of Virginia punished secessionist civilians by confiscating their property and welcoming runaway slaves. The army favored a harder war against the enemy and “was demonstrably anti-slavery from top to bottom” (p. 4). These observations build on prior works that have noted the conservative bent of the leaders of the Army of the Potomac—the administration's main army in the eastern theater—versus the new way of conducting warfare signaled by Pope's rise to command. A common story is that the Army of the Potomac commander George B. McClellan believed in a limited war that respected civilian property, including slaves—a policy calculated to encourage Unionist sentiment and forge easier reunion. Pope, however, brought an attitude of warfare forged in the western theater (between the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River) that did not treat civilians with kid gloves

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