Texans to the front: Why Texans fought in the Civil Wa

Where a Texan came from had a direct impact on why he fought in the Civil War, and, more important, where they fought. Though motivations for Texas soldiers were very similar to the rest of the South, they had one major difference, multiple localism. Multiple localism affected more Texans than residents of the rest of the Confederacy because in mid-nineteenth-century Texas was a migrant state. Since the majority of the migrants came from the old South, they had a direct connection to localities in the region.;When the war started, Texans were heavily influenced by multiple localism when they made their decision to fight and the choice of which unit they would join. Texans who had recently moved to the state viewed their new state as far removed from the dangers of battles, and thus felt no pressing need for the immediate defense of their wives and children in Texas. Because there was no perceived threat to their homes in Texas, such men wanted to return to the state they had recently left, to defend the town where their parents raised them, and to defend the extended family they left behind. On the other hand, men born in Texas had little or no connection with any other state in the South. Many of them tended to join units earmarked to stay in Texas since they had no other place to defend.;Texans decided to defend their old hometowns early in the war since Texas, located in the extreme west of the Confederacy, was not a major priority of the Union Army. As the war progressed, the threat to the state increased as the Union Navy established a stronger blockade and the army encroached closer to its borders. As the threat to Texas increased, so did the priority Texans placed on defending their homes, businesses, and families in the state.