Why do Abbott and Humphreys, that "type," Holmes' word, get under my skin so much?

Third letter, May 1861:

Dear Papa,

Have you had time to see any thing about that commission...? Tom Robeson has got [one]...But I suppose that all the other commissions are taken & HE GOT HIS THROUGH STRONG FAMILY INFLUENCE. (emphasis added) Unlike me, whose family has no strong influence, evidently. Boo-hoo-hoo.

I don't know any thing about the expense of a commission but...I certainly shouldn't wish to trouble you...

Oh gag me with a spoon, the spoiled, manipulative brat.

Fourth letter, July 11:

Dear Mamma,

I write to tell you that I have accepted the offer of a commission I ["I!" That ungrateful little snot!] have got me. I had made up my mind to get a commission a month ago [We KNOW!]

They get under my skin so much because the war was not real to them. It was not war to them, it was an "extremely pleasant" adventure so far for Abbott--dress parades! ladies! Oh, it was just bully. For both becoming a soldier was an "opportunity" to prove their manhood. Getting a commission for Abbott, getting his own regiment for Humphreys, was like getting into Harvard, it was what an Abbott and a Humphreys must do! It was what an Abbott and a Humphreys were entitled to--to lead, to command. It was getting that job you always wanted:

It is nothing more serious than going into trade or a profession.

No, Little Abbott, it is "more serious" than that. In this trade, this profession, you are going to be killing people you little shit, you are not going to be reading law with Papa, you are going to be killing people, you are going to be getting other people killed under your command, you are going to get killed.

It is singular that both of these men acted identically, like "maniacs," in the same battle, Fredericksburg.

Life, their own and others, did not matter to this "type." That's why they get under my skin so much.