The role that Whitman's background has in this poem is a major one. Had Whitman supported Confederate troops his poem would likely have read much differently. It would have been one of sadness and anger instead of a poem of joy. It was Whitman's background in the North and the values that he took from there that enable him to write a poem that reflects on the victory in a positive manner.
Although he does write this poem about the victory of the North and the values that are embraced there, Whitman also reveals a line that he hopes will make people take a closer look at the direction that the nation was headed before the war. In 1848, many years before he wrote this poem, Whitman had lost a job at a newspaper because "of his unyielding support of the Wilmot Proviso of 1846" (Olsen-Smith). The Wilmot Proviso was presented with the hope of banning slavery in any new territories. Whitman did not like or believe in slavery. He saw the continuation and expansion of slavery happening throughout the nation and wanted a change to be made. The change he wanted was made possible partly because of the Civil War and the outcome of it. In "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" Whitman writes "Behold the silvery river, in it the splashing horses loitering stop to drink, / Behold the brown-faced men, each group, each person, a picture" (Whitman Lines 3-4). With these lines and the words that Whitman chooses to use he is trying to make America take an objective look at itself and figure out what values it holds. Whitman uses the "silvery river" in the place of a mirror, the horses that are splashing indicate the freedom that the United States was founded on, and Whitman makes sure to point out that the men on the horses have brown faces indicating his feelings that all "colors" are equal to one another. Whitman uses these images in the hope that the freedom that the horses have will be bestowed on everyone now that the War has ended.