Civil War In James Mcpherson's For Cause And Comrades

The American War was the bloodiest war fought by the American people, beyond the sheer numbers of dead and maimed it was also one of three, perhaps four, wars fought on American soil. Estimates vary, but somewhere in the ballpark of 600,000 soldiers lost their lives and countless others were wounded. The battles weren’t in some far off land, but in cornfields and towns across America and the impact of the Union victory shaped the United States into what it is today. For all of its carnage the war still raged for four years and the ranks of both armies were filled predominately by volunteers. Men who were willing to put down their plows and pick up muskets, drill for countless hours, marched hundreds of miles only to stand within yards of their …show more content…
McPherson’s argument goes deeper than initial enlistment and explains why soldiers continued to fight through the bloodiest conflict in American History. He claims that soldiers answered the call to arms because they felt it was their duty and that they fought for liberty. Southerners fought for their rights as white males and Northerners for the continuation of liberty provided by the Constitution. Both sides joined to defend their interpretation of the Constitution. Northerners felt that secession would be an end to the ideals that their forefathers striven for in the American Revolution. Southerners fought for the same reason, but alternatively felt that their individual rights were more important. In a way Southern ideals were selfish, their concern was for family and local loyalties rather than to the …show more content…
However many Southerners didn’t own slaves and four slave states fought for the Union, so it is difficult to argue that this was the only motivation to fight. Northerners fought to preserve the Union and defend the ideals of the founding fathers and they interpreted it. Southerners fought to defend their homes from invasion and to maintain the lifestyle that existed before the American Revolution. They felt that a Union army threatened their homes and they were going to fight to defend their property. On the battlefield soldiers on both sides fought for their comrades and to defend their honor, noting that without honor there was nothing