What They Fought For Sparknotes

In the book, What They Fought For by James McPherson, the topic is the motivation behind the soldiers that fought for the Confederates as well as the Union, along with their perception of slavery during the Civil War from 1861-1865. This work gives a plethora of diverse quotes from soldiers living in the deep south of Louisiana to up north in Massachusetts with everything in between, which makes it impossible to assign this book to one location. The author presents the thesis that both armies were composed of men who were able to read, and knew what they were fighting for. Ultimately, after reading the literature, I think the author achieved supporting his thesis with an abundance of facts and research.

McPherson organized this piece

The North suprised the South by fighting back, as the South thought they’d secede unopposed. The North fought because if they didn’t, they would end up losing their property, country, and freedom. Parallel to the South, they felt they were fighting to uphold what the founding fathers would want, which was to keep the Union together in their opinion. A soldier from Missouri said, “We fight for the blessings brought by the blood and treasure of our fathers.” (p.28) This theme of sacrifice and determination found in the Confederate’s letters are also seen abundantly in the Union’s letters. In fact, 67% of Unionists expressed patriotic convictions while only 66% of Confederate soldiers did the same. The northerners were convinced that if they left the South alone, it would result in the representative government coming to an end. To them, secession was a deadly challenge to the foundation of the United States of law and order. If this was destroyed, anarchy and despotism were sure to ensue. It is easy to be skeptical of the Union’s convictions but the letters from two Quaker brothers solidify the North’s argument. These brothers are an example of ideological convictions overcoming pacifism. One brother said, “If I die for cause of Unity of this government, that is the way a man should die.” (p.34) The attitude the Quaker brothers had is a good representation of how thousands of other Union soldiers felt when it came to the Civil War. One important difference to note between the Unionists and Confederates was that patriotic convictions were shared more evenly across class lines among Unionists. In short, Unionists and Confederates shared the same degree of patriotic convictions but the larger disproportion of officers in the Confederate letters skews the percentage upward. The lower classes of Confederates didn’t seem to