Summary Of What They Fought For

Improved Essays
Show More
In “What They Fought For” James McPherson discusses why the soldiers of 1861-1865 joined the war and if they knew just exactly what they were fighting for. In topical order, McPherson reveals the intense thoughts and feelings of soldiers in just a few of the 25,000 letters and diaries he read from soldiers that wrote to family members (13). The organization of the book is more effective because it goes into detail about a main point that the author tries to make. This book uncovers the motives of why some of the men were fighting, their confusions and fears, and their fierce sense of duty in fighting for their country. The men of the South expressed their reasons for fighting in letters to loved ones telling them how much they missed them

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Civil War 50 Objects Analysis
    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Civil War 50 Objects Analysis

    The Importance of the Civil War The Civil War in 50 Objects, by Henry Holzer and the New-York Historical Society, is a collection of fifty primary sources, varying in type and format. Each of these objects is accompanied by a description of the source, as well as a story which establishes the source in the proper context in history. Through the sources Holzer shows the importance of the Civil War, especially for the people who lived through it. The Civil War transformed the United States in many ways, bringing lasting change to our nation, and establishing the war as important to everyone in the country, even up to today.…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Summary Of James M. Mcpherson's What They Fought For?
    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Summary Of James M. Mcpherson's What They Fought For?

    For a copious aggregate of years, historians have attempted to determine why individuals took part in the American Civil War. Furthermore, numerous experts have conjectured on why it necessitated a bloody skirmish to overhaul a nation that had previously been fragmented due to the diverse ideologies of the North and the South. In his novel What They Fought For, James M. McPherson avows that even though the soldiers of both sides originated from the same motherland, it was their disparate dogmata’s that instigated them to endure belligerence and foster the extrication of their country. In his novel, McPherson derives distinctive tones and deposits them in the profound and abysmal chorus of a budding nation divvied amongst itself. In addition,…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Analysis Of James M. Mcpherson's Crossroads Of Freedom
    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Analysis Of James M. Mcpherson's Crossroads Of Freedom

    McPherson uses a comparison of other battles that shaped the Civil War alongside Antietam to further understand how the events within the first year of the war changed America as nation. In this first chapter, McPherson marks the early months of he conflicts leading up Antietam and its effect. The two failures that impacted the two sides of the country are as follows: the incorrect measures taken by the Union in relation to the “Trent Affair”, and the failed “King Cotton” blockade by Confederate forces.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Crossroads Of Freedom Sparknotes
    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Crossroads Of Freedom Sparknotes

    Throughout the course of his book, Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam, James McPherson examines not only the events that occurred on September 17, 1862, but he also outlines the causes and explanations for the American Civil War. Firstly, McPherson emphasizes the role that slavery played in causing the war and he shares details regarding the outcomes and results of this historic battle. McPherson’s second main objective of this book is to highlight how tentative General McClellan was over the course of the war. General McClellan was too cautious in engaging the Confederate Army even when he had the captured plans of General Lee.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    For Cause And Comrades Summary
    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages

    For Cause And Comrades Summary

    For Cause & Comrades is a historical non-fiction based on more than 25,000 letters and close to 250 private diaries from Civil War soldiers of both armies. This book answers the question why men would fight in the Civil War. He first became obsessed with answering this question when students asked him why 13,000 Confederate soldiers would constantly charge across open terrain in the Battle of Gettysburg while taking heavy rifle and artillery fire, only to fall…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    A Year In The South Summary
    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A Year In The South Summary

    Marion Glenn 11/18/2016 The year 1865 could be described as one of the most tumultuous periods in American history. It was the inevitable fallout following the civil war and represented an uncertain future for many southerners who now had to rebuild their lives after losing the war. The book A Year in the South by Stephen Ash, describes the exceedingly different lives of Louis Hughes a slave determined to obtain freedom, Samuel Agnew a man of God coming to grasp with his spiritual and worldly troubles, Cornelia McDonald a widow battling despair and poverty brought on by the war, and John Robertson a former Confederate soldier seeking to separate himself from the remanence of the war, all of whom struggled throughout this year to survive and find their new places in a changing world.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    What They Fought For Summary
    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages

    What They Fought For Summary

    The Civil War was a devastating war that wiped out much of America’s population. The book written by James M. McPherson, What They Fought For 1861-1865, describes the views of the soldiers that fought in the war. McPherson uses letters left behind written by different civil war soldiers to portray a more round view of actions that took place on the battlegrounds. McPherson’s thesis does not present from both sides of the war what the soldiers, volunteers and enlisted men, of the Civil War had to faced, how they dealt with their emotions and experiences, the bond made between comrades, and how it affect their overall psychological, physical, and mental well-being of each combatant. This book contains diary entries from Union soldiers that were from the northern states.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of Charles B. Dew's Apostles Of Disunion
    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Analysis Of Charles B. Dew's Apostles Of Disunion

    The American Civil War was very misunderstood in that no one really knows the exact reason of why the war started. In Apostles of Disunion, Dew discusses topics such as slavery, racism, economics and state rights to push his point of view on the audience of why the war and secession began. Charles B. Dew wrote this book to inform the audience the secession came from not just the factor of state rights during the time between 1860 and 1861. Because Dew was a Southerner himself, he writes the book off of self-knowledge, experience others, and facts including people and their perspectives on the cause. The most common claim when it came to The Civil War’s cause is it beginning due to slavery and racism in the south; however Dew argues that the…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    William Dean Howells 'Short Story Editha'
    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages

    William Dean Howells 'Short Story Editha'

    The exceptional author, William Dean Howells, constructs a powerful topic of both the ideal and real aspects of war in the short story, “Editha”. This powerful story shows us the ideal versus the real. Some would like to think that when soldiers are sent to war they will return, and everything that they must do is “Holy”. Editha calls any war that occurs a glorious war (Howells 1492). This allows both the soldiers and their loved ones to be proud of what was done during the war.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Summary Of In Defense Of Freedom
    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Summary Of In Defense Of Freedom

    In Defense of Freedom: A Conservative Credo Before diving into this literature, I find it important to understand the author, Frank Meyer. Meyer was born in New Jersey and attended Princeton and Oxford. He later studied at London School of Economics, but was expelled and deported for “communist activism.” Meyer, like the majority of founders of National Review Magazine, was one of the first full U.S. communist activists. It wasn’t until his service during World War II with the U.S. Army, where he read The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek, that he began to turn away from communism and to the right.…

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Loyalty In 'Braveness' By Louisa May Alcott
    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Loyalty In 'Braveness' By Louisa May Alcott

    Their efforts have demonstrated the braveness and loyalty they have to their beloved country. “ I have been longed to see a war, and now I have my wish. I long to be a man, but I can't fight, I will contain myself with working for those who can. ”(Alcott, page 420) This evidence demonstrates how Louisa May Alcott’s action shows her courage and enthusiasm towards the Civil War and how even she could not go to war, she still wants to be a part of it for those who can.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Slave To His Star Analysis
    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Slave To His Star Analysis

    The Civil War was a big victory and along the way some people celebrated some mourned. Civil War wasn’t just about fighting and winning it was also about what it is to be an American and what it takes to be one. A lot of people thought about it some say sacrifice, respect, or pride. Seeing this a lot of authors decided to write about the Civil War and what they though it meant. During the Civil War, Bravery was the defining trait of being American.…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Slavery In Chandra Manning's What This Cruel War Over
    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Slavery In Chandra Manning's What This Cruel War Over

    Chandra Manning’s “What this Cruel War was over” poses the question of what the Civil War was fought over. She then introduces the argument that the war was undeniably over slavery. Using the letters, diaries and newspapers of soldiers who lived and fought during the civil war Manning explains the ways in which slavery and race relations influences the men who volunteered and fought in the civil war. Manning begins her book with three quotations that back up her argument.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Walter Walt Whitman Transcendentalism
    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Walter Walt Whitman Transcendentalism

    Throughout America’s history, the United States has experienced many trials in tribulations regarding Economic, Social, and Moral issues. Even so, the bloodiest war in American history remains to be the Civil War, which took place fought 1861 to 1865. The war itself was ignited by issues between the Union and the Southern states that caused a divided between the regions of the north and south. The war itself illuminated the dark side of the institution within the American society, and as a result, the era was marked by a turn in the principles of the American people as a transition from purely transcendentalism views were combined with a new approach of thinking that relied on realism. Those that wielded the power of language were able to express the realities of society through their creative works that illuminated both the positive and negative aspects that thrived within…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Reflection On A Day In The Life Of Jenemy
    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Reflection On A Day In The Life Of Jenemy

    The year of 1862 is upon me and I have just answered to the president's call for 300,000 men to muster in the army. I ought to think that signing up is not about the liberal bounties in the form of greenbacks, but the dignity of true patriotism. Today my focus is to round up all my possessions in order to prepare for my arrival. I arrived to camp a couple weeks ago, and I found it more agreeable than I had anticipated, with new cabins built out of cedar that smelled of woods. The countless leisurely activities showed of great amusement such as forms of gambling, cards, and the sounds of joyous musical instruments that filled the air.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings