The problem of social relations between the conquerors and the conquered was troublesome.

The men might get along well together, but the women would have nothing do with the "Yankees," and ill feeling arose because of their antipathy.

Carl Schurz reported that "the soldier of the Union is looked upon as a stranger, an intruder, as the 'Yankee,' the 'enemy.'...
The existence and intensity of this aversion is too well known to those who have served or are serving in the South to require proof." In retaliation the soldiers developed ingenious ways of annoying the whites.

Women, forced for any reason to go to headquarters, were made to take the oath of allegiance or the "ironclad" oath before their requests were granted; flags were fastened over doors, gates, or sidewalks in order to irritate the recalcitrant dames and their daughters.
Confederate songs and color combinations were forbidden.

In Richmond, General Halleck ordered that no marriages be performed unless the bride, the groom, and the officiating clergyman took the oath of allegiance.
He explained this as a measure taken to prevent "the propagation of legitimate rebels." The wearing of Confederate uniforms was forbidden by military order, but by May 1865, few soldiers possessed regulation uniforms.