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Civil War Chapter Summaries

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Although society has been brought to believe that soldiers in the Civil War, both North and South, were mere illiterate followers, not knowing what the war was about or who they what they were fighting for, James McPherson argues otherwise; contradicting popular belief. Throughout the use of primary sources, the author emphasizes the moral and ideological factors in the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Inside these primary sources, the reader can look through the mind of the soldier and discover their real motives of fighting in the war through the medium of the letters exchanged to friends and family. For the duration of the second chapter, McPherson focuses on the underlying reasons as to why the Union soldiers fought with great force and determination through the course of the Civil War. The Unionists believed in conserving the democracy our founding fathers had established hundreds of years ago. They strongly thought that the man who did not give his hearty support to their country is not worthy to be a descendant of our forefathers. Tied in with the establishment of the Unites States, the …show more content…

Nationalism was a big factor, both Union like Confederate soldiers believed in making their fellow founding fathers proud of what they had become. The book portrays the Confederate soldiers as proud of being “rebels”, quoting names like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as examples of “rebellious” men in their time period. The Unionists stuck to their idealism of preserving the union, making nationalism more prominent in their area. Both sides also appealed to what the United States was founded on, freedom and liberty. The Unionists believed that they should conserve the government which granted everyone liberty. Confederates believed that the government established was the actual problem, rebelling to restore the real liberty that our country was founded

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