Summary Of A Band Of Brothers

A Band of Brothers, By James M. McPherson

The Civil War, which started in April 1861, was the war in which changed American History eternally. It consisted of extremely ordinary, inexperienced men fighting a battle that was much bigger than them, and existed long before their time. While most of the men fighting in the war were mere volunteers, with no battle experience, they were expecting to simply fight, win, and return home with no impediments. This was clearly not the case. The article, A Band of Brothers, distinctly describes the men's pure intention for not only joining the Confederate, and Union army, but remaining in it, when it became clear it was not going to be an effortless, minute battle. The purpose of the article is to

"Personal honor is the one thing valued more than life itself by the majority of men", quoted by S.L.A Marshall. The first main point explains three things. Maintaining personal honor, community honor, and last but not least, maintaining honor within your family. The article gives many examples of how the men felt they needed to withhold a certain amount of reputation for themselves, as a man. With the majority of men in the United States offering up their services to fight in the War, there was a level of expectation placed on them. This was the main reason for them to maintain their pride in manhood. Many men began to test their manhood when they fought their first battle, but this motivated them to challenge themselves, and their nobility. The second thing the men desired to preserve honor in was their community honor. The soldiers pride cost many their lives because they would rather stay, then be shamed and looked down on by the community. Returning home meant one thing. Cowardice. Many of men fighting had been from the same town or community and had known each other forever. This fact leads to a certain pressure by other soldiers against weakness. The last honor the soldiers aspired to uphold was the honor of your family name. A quote in the article from a Private in the 20th Georgia

McPherson is an exceptionally well-written article which explains in great profundity the motives for men joining the Army and keeping up a high level of Honor. The article can be directly correlated to the understanding of the Civil War, and the background information that the readers weren't aware of in the war, such as the Soldiers motives to fight. The first main strong point present in the article is that the article articulates the main points of the essay very well, and uses countless quotes from Generals that were not in the AP United States History Textbook, which give a much more individual explanation to the personal reasons the men were fighting in the first place. This helped make the information not only easy to understand but much more interesting than just stating facts about the war. The secondary main strength in the article is the events mentioned that aren't major battles, so are not introduced into the textbook. They are of personal account to a soldier or general and are ever quoted with a date. This was a great resource in the article that the reader could look back on. The third and final strength at hand in the article is the assessment between the Civil War and World War II, and stating the resemblance in the men's drive for victory. This helped understand the information and added a synthesis to it, to reference. The article contributes to the understanding of the time, by giving a new and