The Letter Of A Confederate Surgeon

James McPherson the author of What They Fought For 1861-1865, thesis states that the soldiers from both the North and South fought for a large extent for ideology, and not exclusively as brothers in war with other soldiers, for principles of strength or courage, and for the nations of honor and duty. McPherson uses hundreds of letters and diaries from soldiers from both the Union and Confederate troops to show their experience. He tries to focus on a variety of attitudes and motives from the volunteer soldiers. These young men coped with fear, stress, exhaustion, pain, and death everyday while out there fighting. “A final theme that will receive attention is ideology,” (McPherson 1) this is what the soldiers supposed they were fighting for during the Civil War.

If the north was to succeed, they would forever be oppressed by their victory, and slaves of their achievements. The Confederates fought to promote the wellbeing of their family and the protection of their land “from Yankee outrage and atrocity”(Mc.Pherson 20) .

William W. Freehling's book The South vs. The South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War tells a unique story about the Civil War and one that is not typically discussed in history books. The book is about divisions within the southern culture, which might have led to the outcome of the war in favor of the Union. Perhaps all black southerners had a vested interest in the North's victory, but many white southerners felt the same way for many reasons. In The South vs. The South, Freehling discusses the way the Union used divisions in the south as a war strategy, such as by recruiting potentially neutral Americans living in border states. Recruiting soldiers from border states and western states with less entrenched plantation cultures versus their Dixie counterparts was one of Lincoln's key strategies and also helped General Grant secure some key military victories.

Historians have argued inconclusively for years over the prime reason for Confederate defeat in the Civil War. The book Why the North Won the Civil War outlines five of the most agreed upon causes of Southern defeat, each written by a highly esteemed American historian. The author of each essay does acknowledge and discuss the views of the other authors. However, each author also goes on to explain their botheration and disagreement with their opposition. The purpose of this essay is to summarize each of the five arguments presented by Richard N. Current, T. Harry Williams, Norman A. Graebner, David Herbert Donald, and David M. Potter. Each author gives his insight on one of the following five reasons:

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.”

The first side that gets addressed is the Confederate side. While there are many different reasons that the soldiers fought in this civil war, the one of the main causes was for the use of slavery. Many soldiers had the mindset to fight for “a free white man’s government instead of living under a black republican government” (53). This will to uphold the racial inequality was seen in the way the South fought with passion and hatred against the change of their lives (19). Confederate soldiers were mostly bought into the war, due to the plantation owners sending someone else in their names. Soldiers

The romanticized version of the Civil War creates a picture of the North versus the South with the North imposing on the South. However, after reading “The Making of a Confederate” by William L. Barney, one can see that subdivisions existed before the war was declared. The documents analyzed by Barney primarily focus on the experiences of Walter Lenoir, a southern confederate and a member of the planter elite. His experiences tell a vivid story of a passionate and strongly opinioned participant of the Civil War as well as demonstrate a noticeably different view involving his reasoning when choosing a side. Between analyzing this fantastic piece of literature and other resourceful documents from “Voices of Freedom” by Eric Foner, one

In 1994, McPherson wrote the book, What They Fought For: 1861-1865, about his exploration on the motivations of the soldiers that fought in the Civil War (“James M. McPherson” par. 6). He analyzed the letters and diaries of twenty-five thousand soldiers, ultimately determining the reasons for the soldier’s continuance to fight during the Civil War.

Soldiers would write that “it is better to spend out all in defending our country than to be subjugated and have it taken away from us” (What They Fought For 1861-1865, p. 12). When these men wrote home, they never knew whether they would return or not, nor did they care so long as they knew the war was continuing. “The concepts of southern nationalism, liberty, self-government, resistance to tyranny, and other ideological purposes I quoted earlier all have a rather abstract quality. But for many confederate soldiers these abstractions took a concrete, visceral form: the defense of home and hearth against an invading enemy. This purpose in turn became transformed for many soldiers into hatred and a desire for revenge” (What They Fought For 1861-1865, p. 18). Fighting to save their home, property, and liberty could not have be a more powerful reason to fight. They knew if they allowed the Union to win, they would have to give up everything they spent so much time and effort into acquiring, not only in regard to land, but also referring to slaves. A lieutenant from Tennessee said it best when he stated, “the yankees are sacrificing their lives for nothing; we ours for home, country, and all That is dear and sacred… Every on seems to know that his life liberty and property are at stake, hence we never can be whipped” (What They Fought For1861-1865, p.18). It has become very evident throughout this book

Confederates believed that fighting in the war would be the only way to preserve their new Southern nation and if they did not fight they would “no longer have a country worthy of the name”. Southern identify themeselves as they wanted a glorious new nation that must be preserved through fighting the war. Fighting for their country meant to protect and defend their families. Although it was hard for the soldiers, as they were men who were used to a different lifestyle, to leave the comforts of their home and family but they knew that fighting for their beliefs was the only way to secure their families. Family was their motivation to continue fighting.

lives of the Confederate soldiers; however, the “Lost Cause” belief was founded upon historically inaccurate or debatable elements that included the claim that the Confederacy instigated the Civil War in order to defend states' rights rather than to preserve slavery, and the related claim that slavery was benevolent, rather than cruel.

The Civil War began when the Southern Slave States seceded from the Northern Free States due to uncompromising polarity and formed the Confederate States of America. This four year war over the power of the national government to forbid slavery in the regions that hadn’t yet become states claimed more lives than any other war in American History. In his book, What They Fought For, 1861-1865, James McPherson examines the feelings and motives of both Union and Confederate soldiers to enlist and fight in the Civil War; most of these soldiers were volunteer soldiers. He proves his thesis that contrary to the popular belief that Civil War soldiers didn’t understand what they were fighting for, McPherson presents evidence that in fact, “a large number of those men in blue and gray were intensely aware of the issues at stake and passionately concerned about them” (4). After the war ended, Ulysses S. Grant also goes on to state, “our armies were composed of men who were able to read, men who knew what they were fighting for” (6). McPherson confirms this through the many personal letters and diaries written by the most literate soldiers in history to that time.

After Fort Sumter, young volunteers hurried to enlist in the state militias. Most Southerners believed that "one good Southern boy could whip any ten Yankee [Northern] clerks and shopkeepers hands down." This means that the spirit the Southerners had for fighting to have slavery made them very motivated, going as far to say that one Southerner was easily better and stronger than ten Northerners. This shows just how important the South’s fighting spirit was because the south was motivated enough to beat anyone for what they believe in. Lastly, in the blog brought to you by The Next Galaxy which talked about everything in the civil war stated, “The will and resolve of the Confederacy was unbelievable. In their minds, since the war was being fought on their territory, they were fighting to defend their own homes. This created a level of unity that the North lacked.” This translates to the Confederates being very motivated and brought together because they were fighting in their own

Both the forces that motivated soldiers to fight and the hardships soldiers faced in the army were much the same for both Union and Confederate troops. The Union Soldiers had more than the confederate soldiers did. They are better Equipped, more prepared, and have better leadership. So it kind of seems like the Union Soldiers had more to lose. Just like I, the Union Soldiers wanted to end slavery as well. Blood, sweat, Tears they all were ready, and wasn’t giving up. I feel that over the years we were being prepared to where we are now. I wouldn’t want to live in the old day during slavery time. Times were hard, and many of us today wouldn’t have been able to survive. To know that the goal did come true, and to see what the men risked their life for is just pure bravery, even the ones who

The Confederates did not share this same worldview. For the South, there was nothing Civil about this war. This was a revolution. Misguided or not, the Southern States saw the Union as a tyrannical oppressor, and they wanted their freedom. They wanted to become a sovereign nation. They wanted to become the Confederate States of America. This was easier said than done. To the United States of America, the Confederacy was an insurrection that needed to be extinguished. The longer the war waged, the better suited the Union was to win the war. If the Confederate States were to survive, they needed international help. Badly.