Nine April Days Chapter Summary

Another thing that stood out to me about General Lee was that he was not a big fan of slavery. He had command of Northern Virginia during the Civil War, so it does make sense. Lee through out this book shows his love for Virginia. Let’s face it, he is solely in this war because Virginia made the decision to leave the Union. He is very loyal to his home state, and it shows through out the

Company Aytch, a memoir written by Sam Watkins, tells the personal tale of a lowly private fighting four long years in the American Civil War. Watkins was from Columbia, Tennessee, and was a part of Company H, 1st Tennessee Infantry. He recounts his military career in chronological order, from before the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 to the day the Confederacy surrendered at Nashville in 1865. Watkins is a humble writer, often reminds the reader that he is not aiming to provide a comprehensive account of the entire war, but rather a collection of personal stories. Military history books often recount the lives of generals and of great strategies, but this book insists that history should not exclude the common men who filled the ranks of the military.

Through the whole book it is clear that McDonough believes that the defeat of the south was unavoidable and how important Kentucky was to the war with her waterways and railroads. The main thesis was the importance of the Western Theatre and the idea that 1862 was a decisive year in the war, The author states how the western battles got more recognition than

McPherson starts out the book with The Pendulum of War 1861-1862. McPherson in this chapter of the book mainly talks about the uprisings and downfalls of General B. McClellan who was appointed by Abraham Lincoln to be the head of the Army of the Potomac. McPherson explains what the American Civil Wars ultimate goal was and what Abraham Lincoln wished to achieve was the unity of all the states armies and invasion of the Confederacy in which he had hopes of destroying their government. The union arms won some victories and also lost some as well but the first most remembered to be the embarrassing defeat McPherson names is along the banks of Bull Run in July 1861. He describes the war and what happened in it and concludes that after the release of Mason and Slidell the war was averted and later struck a financial panic in

There are several things that can be depicted in history by using a work of fiction as opposed to non-fiction. In the novel where it states, “They were Tennessee troops who prided themselves on their marksmanship, but so far as I could tell, not a ball came within ten feet of that buck,” the author could be letting the reader use their imagination in picturing what the fabricated Confederate Army consisted of, which were inexperienced and noisy troops without much experience in battle, especially those of dire importance (24). The author can also use the historical facts prevalent in regards to the Civil War, and in a way, mesh these with a creative elegance to truly master the art of fiction in a novel. The author must not only fully understand the details about the past, but also should be able to weave in certain events with the themes presented with fiction as a whole.

The book opened with a sodden Confederate spy as he blazed through the Union lines in the dead of night on June 29, 1863 toward the headquarters of Confederate general Robert E. Lee with

By using primary sources from soldiers, he is giving a voice to those people. He is not trying to undermine the importance of abolishing slavery, but wants to educate people on history that might have been taught differently to them. He also wants to clear up the impression that Civil War soldiers did not know what they fought for (McPherson, 2). He wrote this book to set an outline for a larger book that he made called, “Why They Fought” (McPherson, 1). The author’s main argument is to show that the Civil War was not initially about slavery and that the soldier’s did have reasons on why they were fighting. In the many letters both the Union and Confederacy soldiers had a hate for one another. They both want to destroy the other and would not stop until the end. A soldier from Virginia said, “I intend to fight them to the last… I will kill them as long as I live” (McPherson, 20). This quote and many others explains the author’s argument on that the soldiers had their

Written in chronological order, What This Cruel War was Over is divided into six chapters with both an introduction and conclusion. In the first chapter, Manning argues that the sole purpose for commitment and existence of Confederate troops

Some important highlights from the book were the motivated volunteer soldiers who risked there lives in the Civil War both Confederate and Union. Eighty to ninety percent of the fighting soldiers were volunteers. Most of them volunteered in the first year of the war. During this

James M. McPherson, author of For Cause and Comrades, uses more than 25,000 unaltered letters and closely 250 private journals from Civil War soldiers—both Union and Confederate—in his attempt to explain what possessed these men to endure the roaring, gruesome chaos of war. What better way to express the motivation behind fighting than words straight from the pens of the men who were physically there and experienced the Civil War to its fullest? I personally feel as though McPherson succeeded in his explanation of the different driving forces that kept each man going during these difficult years of battle. The Wall Street Journal describes McPherson’s work as “an extraordinary book, full of fascinating details and moving self-portraits.”

In the first chapter it shows the side of the southern Confederate armies. They start to compare the Civil War to the Revolutionary War. Their enemies, known as Northern Yankees, were nothing more than just dictators trying to destroy the south. It’s the same technique the British did to the colonists almost a century ago. This is what gave them their southern freedom, by walking in the shoes of their forefathers and fight for their liberties and constitutional rights. He then starts to talk about the Confederates lives by the letters and journals that they wrote during the Civil War. Each letter talks about different things; how the Southern soldiers felt about the war, talks about their enemies the Yanks, slaves,

The first chapter goes back in history and sets up the story and setting. It was the eighteenth century and the Americans were beginning to invade the lands west of the Mississippi River. This caused problems because even though Americans saw the lands as an unoccupied

Sears uses language that most all of us can understand, and clearly it is a very well researched work. He supports his claims in the book with a copious amount of facts and yet still keeps the course of the book moving forward. He draws on a variety of sources including diaries and letters of the participants to produce, arguably, his definitive work. Sears thesis is actually two-fold; one that McClellan missed countless opportunities to defeat Lee and two that McClellan was an incompetent commander who missed several instances to take initiative and win the battle decisively. The young Napoleon, as McClellan was known, often waited an inordinate amount of time before making a movement with his troops. For me, reading the details (with heavy emphasis to the Union story) was captivating. No recon, no communication, egotistical leadership, timidity, and procrastination all combined and helped the Union snatch defeat (or, at the very least, a draw) from the jaws of victory. This battle, like others before and after it, could have really shortened the Civil War.

April 1865 was a month that could have disentangled the country. Rather, it spared it. Here Jay Winik offers a splendid new take a gander at the Civil War's last days that will always show signs of change the way we see the war's end and the country's fresh start. Exceptionally set inside the bigger range of history, loaded with rich profiles of outsize figures, new renegade grant, and a holding story, this is a magnificent record of the thirty most vital days in the life of the United States.

The American Civil War, which began in 1861 to 1865, has gone down in history as the one of the most significant events to have ever occurred in the United States of America, thus far. At that time, questions had arose wondering how the United States ever got so close to hitting rock bottom, especially being that it was a conflict within the country itself. Hostility steadily grew through the years dividing the nation further and further, and finally leading to the twelfth day in April 1861 in Fort Sumter, North Carolina. The American Civil War was an irrepressible battle and aside from the obvious physical effects of the war, the disagreement over states rights, the act of slavery, and the raising of tariffs played crucial roles in the