What they fought for, 1861-1865

McPherson ( Battle Cry of Freedom ), a Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War scholar, here calls on letters and diaries, many unpublished, to present a strong case that both Union and Confederate soldiers made war motivated primarily by considerations of principle. Slavery was a crucial factor, he observes: Southerners regarded it as part of their way of life. Northerners, on the other hand, combined morality and pragmatism in their acceptance of abolition as essential in preserving the Union. McPherson, however, perceives the Civil War basically as a struggle for the heritage of 1776, a struggle in which Southerners sought freedom from a tyrannical government, while Northerners believed the republican experiment could not survive if the legitimacy of secession were established. More than 80% of the war's combatants were literate, which may help to explain why McPherson's sources convincingly reflect the character and experience of the armies. Frontline idealism seemed to prevail on both sides, perhaps to the surprise of a more cynical 20th century. McPherson's emphasis on moral and ideological factors in war gives his book a significance well beyond its specific subject. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Union general Joshua Chamberlain once observed that because they fought for rights rather than pay or plunder, Civil War armies were almost unique in history. Numerous studies of the Civil War, and subsequent wars, have argued otherwise, noting that self-interest and survival more than ideology caused men to fight. Now distinguished historian McPherson (American history, Princeton Univ.) has entered the lists after examining several hundred Union and Confederate soldiers' diaries and letters. In a sprightly and forcefully argued book, based on a series of lectures and derived from a larger work-in-progress, McPherson finds that soldiers on both sides cherished concepts of liberty (even when defending slavery). Many historians will likely contest such findings, which seem more to characterize the first years of the war than the last, but all will owe McPherson much for revitalizing an important debate about the meaning of the Civil War.-- Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.