Really great insight into the reason why soldiers fought in the Civil War. Great read! ( )

McPherson wrote a shorter version of this called WHAT THEY FOUGHT FOR. I liked that so much that I read this later, longer version. It is an excellent explanation of why men fought in the Civil War. He covers northern and southern motivations and differentiates between reasons to enlist and motivations for going into battle. McPherson is also clear about the statistics, letting the reader know which groups are over- or under-represented in his sampling and how that might effect the outcomes. ( )

Even the simplest of soldiers in the American Civil War was aware of what was at stake in the conflict and had this in mind as he went into battle. This is the conclusion McPherson draws after examining the letters and diaries of almost one thousand common soldiers. His extensive use of these primary sources allow the soldier’s voices to make his argument for him, which makes the book’s contention so much the stronger. The belief that their cause was just carried men on both sides of the conflict through battle after battle, as did the ties of loyalty they formed among themselves as they faced the imminence of death together.

Reviewed Dec. 2006 My first Civil War book of the season it surly won’t be the last. McPherson uses over 1000 letters and diaries of Union and Southern soldiers to answer the questions: Why did you enlist...”duty, patriotism, honor and ideology.” How did they sustain motivation to fight...”impulses of courage, self-respect and group cohesion.” Both sides used the “founding fathers” and the energy of “1776” to fuel their opinion of being on the “right side.” Confederates “fought for independence, for a way of life, for their homes, for their very survival as a nation.” Northerners fought because they “believed that they would no longer have a country worthy of the name.” Confederates “professed to fight for liberty and independence from a tyrannical government.” “Unionists said they fought to preserve the nation conceived in liberty from dismemberment and destruction.” Both speak to the American Revolution. The Union soldiers did not in the beginning fight to free slaves but as the war progressed and they saw the cruelty and backwardness of the South they began to become convinced that saving the Union would be impossible without “striking against slavery.” “As long as slavery exists...there will be no permanent peace for America.” 28-2006 ( )

Lincoln Prize Winner: 1998