What They Fought For - James McPherson

what they fought for
james mcpherson
c. 1994
69 pages
completed 3/16/2010

read for: hstaa (american history: first century of freedom)

*may contain spoilers*

Invoking his state's Revolutionary motto, Sic Semper Tyrranis, a young Virginia officer filled letters to his mother with comparison's to the North's "war of subjugation against the South" to England's "war against the colonies."

This is a really quick little read, so this is going to be a really quick little review. There's not a whole lot to say about a book like this. I had to read it for one of my classes and surprise surprise I finished the whole thing. Granted, it was only 69 pages so it's not like that was too hard. Anyway. I thought this book was very informative without being too dry. It digs a little deeper into what people were actually fighting for during the Civil War. It's actually not nearly as cut and dry as you might believe. In fact, by reading hundreds of personal letters and diaries from soldiers of the Civil War, McPherson points out that very few of them mentioned slavery as a primary motive for fighting the war on either side. So if you're interested in the Civil War at all, this is a great little book that looks at the ideals of the soldiers and why they stayed on the battlefield for so long.