Chapter Summary Of The Book What They Fought For

What They Fought for Book Summary What They Fought For is a comprehensive analysis and reflection of the Union and Confederate sides in the Civil War. To preface, this book is written from the perspective of a third-party researcher, using historical quotes and letters that were archived. The book starts us off with the assertion that most people believe that the Civil War was a very cut-and-dry war, wherein both sides blindly agreed on the causes of why they were fighting. This quote by Brigadier General Marshall sums up this ideology the best, "Men do not fight for a cause but because they do not want to let their comrades down"(1). However, this could be further than the truth.

During the early years of the Civil War, the Union and Confederate

Many of the Union soldiers had the ideology that they were fighting to protect the liberty of the nation. "We fight for the blessings bought by the blood and treasure of our Fathers"(3). It was part of their heritage that the Patriots would fight back against a corrupt cause. In this case, the Confederate Army is the equivalent of the British Army in the Revolutionary War. The Confederacy represented the social degradation of the society that the founding fathers built upon, “should we fail, the onward march of Liberty in the Old World will be retarded for at least a century” (4). Many of the Union Soldiers held strong beliefs in this form of Nationalism. One issue that came up was the sample population data. It seemed to be that soldiers that held stronger ideologies typically wrote more about it, from both sides. A large percentage of the soldiers who held these ideas were disproportionately killed in battle. “Casualty figures for the union were just over 5%, however, the Soldiers in the sample were 17% more likely to die” (5). This can be attributed to them holding such strong ideologies, they were typically sent to the frontlines, because they fought so

Union opinion was in a state of change, “It moved by fits and starts toward an eventual majority in favor of abolishing slavery as the only way to win the war” (12). A majority of the Union Soldiers had approved of the Emancipation of Slaves, however, there was still a minority that was more opposed than even some confederates. Several Soldiers had found themselves changing their opinion after seeing the terrible conditions that slaves were kept in. One Soldier stated, “Slavery has deadened all enterprise and prosperity” (13). Union soldiers saw firsthand how the use of slavery had severely weakened the technological innovation in the South. This can be akin to Rome in a way, as why would you spend a lot of time and money on research and technology when you could just hire more slaves to do the work for cheap? The South was a prime example of this technology lag. Others believed that the emancipation of slaves was only good because the nation needed it. " As long as slavery exists. . . there will be no permanent peace for America. . .. Hence I am in favor of killing slavery.