Regimental resolutions

I've been noticing that regimental resolutions have been popping up more often in the current scholarship as featured primary sources. Published in newspapers and seemingly aimed primarily at publicly reminding those at home and across the country of the soldiers' resolve on a variety of weighty (and often controversial) issues related to the war, these resolutions were common to both sides. While presumably designed also to boost home front morale, there could be a dual edge to them, as well, with some even going so far as to chastise and threaten (explicitly or implicitly) fainthearted supporters and opposition elements alike among the civilian population with retribution for breaking faith with the fighting men. I get the impression that the resolutions were primarily a mid to late war phenomenon, when there was increasing disconnect between the war and home fronts.

A number of recent books have utilized these resolutions to good effect. Among them, Jonathan White found regimental resolutions to be a rich resource for assessing soldier attitudes during the critical 1864 election cycle.  Phillip Dillard similarly found regimental resolutions and petitions useful in discovering how the Confederate rank and file viewed late-war proposals to recruit black soldiers into the army. Most recently from my reading, Paul Brueske notes that Confederate regiments in the Mobile defenses in early 1865 felt the need to publish resolutions reaffirming their faith in the war and determination to fight to the bitter end.

Of course, these resolutions raise many questions, among them just how representative they were of not only the regiment's views but the attitudes of the armies as a whole. Recognizing that regiments were highly diverse when it came to member opinions regarding the goals of the war and how it was being fought, White suggests that officer coercion likely played some role in silencing those with minority dissenting views. Among other questions are how and when did regimental resolutions first come about, who wrote them (and what was involved in the approval process), how were the resolutions typically framed, and what particular issues inspired their creation.  The list of ponderables goes on and on, and the topic seems abundantly worthy of a book-length examination.