For Cause and Comrades

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For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War
Front cover of book For Cause and Comrades, Why Men Fought in the Civil War by James McPherson.jpg
Author James M. McPherson
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Oxford University Press
Publication date
1997;26 years ago (1997)
Pages237
ISBN 9780195090239
OCLC 34912692

For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War is a book by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author James M. McPherson. The book was published by Oxford University Press in 1997 and covers the lives and ideals of American Civil War soldiers from both sides of the war. Drawing from a compilation of over 25,000 letters and 250 personal diaries, For Cause and Comrades tells the story of the American Civil War's soldiers through their own uncensored point of view. [1] [2]

Contents

Overview

Confederate motivations

In the book, McPherson contrasts the views of the Confederates regarding slavery to that of the colonial-era American revolutionaries of the late 18th century. [3] He stated that while the American colonists of the 1770s saw an incongruity with slave ownership and proclaiming to be fighting for liberty, the Confederates did not, as the Confederacy's overriding ideology of white supremacy negated any contradiction between the two:

Unlike many slaveholders in the age of Thomas Jefferson, Confederate soldiers from slaveholding families expressed no feelings of embarrassment or inconsistency in fighting for their own liberty while holding other people in slavery. Indeed, white supremacy and the right of property in slaves were at the core of the ideology for which Confederate soldiers fought.

James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (1997), p. 106, emphasis added. [3]

McPherson states that the Confederates did not discuss the issue of slavery as often as Union soldiers did, because most Confederate soldiers readily accepted as an obvious fact that they were fighting to perpetuate slavery, and thus did not feel a need to debate over it:

[O]nly 20 percent of the sample of 429 Southern soldiers explicitly voiced proslavery convictions in their letters or diaries. As one might expect, a much higher percentage of soldiers from slaveholding families than from nonslaveholding families expressed such a purpose: 33 percent, compared with 12 percent. Ironically, the proportion of Union soldiers who wrote about the slavery question was greater, as the next chapter will show. There is a ready explanation for this apparent paradox. Emancipation was a salient issue for Union soldiers because it was controversial. Slavery was less salient for most Confederate soldiers because it was not controversial. They took slavery for granted as one of the Southern 'rights' and institutions for which they fought, and did not feel compelled to discuss it.

James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (1997), pp. 109110, emphasis added. [4]

Continuing, McPherson also stated that of the hundreds of Confederate soldiers' letters he read, none of them contained any anti-slavery sentiment whatsoever:

Although only 20 percent of the soldiers avowed explicit proslavery purposes in their letters and diaries, none at all dissented from that view.

James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (1997), p. 110, emphasis in original. [4]

However, McPherson notes that in his sampling of letters, Confederates from slave-owning families were over-represented. [5]

Union motivations

McPherson also examined the motivations behind Union soldiers and what drove them to fight for the United States in the war. He stated that although Union soldiers primarily fought to preserve the United States as a country, they fought to end slavery as well, stating that:

While restoration of the Union was the main goal for which they fought, they became convinced that this goal was unattainable without striking against slavery.

James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, (1997), p. 118, emphasis added. [6]

Reception

Reaction to the book was highly positive. According to the School Library Journal Review, "This powerful commentary by today's premier Civil War historian is truly compelling in its depth and intensity." [7]

The School Library Journal Review also gave a favorable review, saying "McPherson uses these letters well: they not only support his arguments but provide the intensely human elements of fear, sickness, loneliness and exhaustion that make the question of motivations so poignant." [7]

The Choice Review lauded the book as well, saying "McPherson offers a persuasive and provocative account of why Civil War soldiers fought." [7]

Awards

For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War won the Lincoln Prize in 1998. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which had been formed by states that had seceded from the Union. The central cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing so, which many believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate States of America</span> Unrecognized state in North America (1861–1865)

The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or the South, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confederacy comprised eleven U.S. states that declared secession and warred against the United States during the American Civil War. The states were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emancipation Proclamation</span> 1862 executive order by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln freeing slaves in the South

The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the effect of changing the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free. In addition, the Proclamation allowed for former slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States". The Emancipation Proclamation played a significant part in the end of slavery in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate States Army</span> Southern army in the American Civil War

The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting against the United States forces to win the independence of the Southern states and uphold and expand the institution of slavery. On February 28, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Davis was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, and colonel of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican–American War. He had also been a United States senator from Mississippi and U.S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the Confederate government, Davis assumed control of the military situation at Charleston, South Carolina, where South Carolina state militia besieged Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, held by a small U.S. Army garrison. By March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress expanded the provisional forces and established a more permanent Confederate States Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Colored Troops</span> American Civil War military unit

United States Colored Troops (USCT) were Union Army regiments during the American Civil War that primarily comprised African Americans, with soldiers from other ethnic groups also serving in USCT units. Established in response to a demand for more units from Union Army commanders, by the end of the war in 1865 USCT regiments, which numbered 175 in total, constituted about one-tenth of the manpower of the army. Approximately 20 percent of USCT soldiers were killed in action or died of disease and other causes, a rate about 35 percent higher than that of white Union troops. Numerous USCT soldiers fought with distinction, with 16 receiving the Medal of Honor. The USCT regiments were precursors to the Buffalo Soldier units which fought in the American Indian Wars.

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James Munro McPherson is an American Civil War historian and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. McPherson was the president of the American Historical Association in 2003.

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Neo-Confederates are groups and individuals who portray the Confederate States of America and its actions during the American Civil War in a positive light. The League of the South, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other neo-Confederate organizations continue to defend the secession of the former Confederate States.

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Alabama was central to the Civil War, with the secession convention at Montgomery, the birthplace of the Confederacy, inviting other slaveholding states to form a southern republic, during January–March 1861, and to develop new state constitutions. The 1861 Alabaman constitution granted citizenship to current U.S. residents, but prohibited import duties (tariffs) on foreign goods, limited a standing military, and as a final issue, opposed emancipation by any nation, but urged protection of African-American slaves with trials by jury, and reserved the power to regulate or prohibit the African slave trade. The secession convention invited all slaveholding states to secede, but only 7 Cotton States of the Lower South formed the Confederacy with Alabama, while the majority of slave states were in the Union. Congress had voted to protect the institution of slavery by passing the Corwin Amendment on March 4, 1861, but it was never ratified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi in the American Civil War</span> Overview of the role of the U.S. state of Mississippi during the American Civil War

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery during the American Civil War</span>

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References

  1. "For cause and comrades: why men fought in the Civil War" . Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  2. McPherson, James M. (1997). Bibliography, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. ISBN   978-0-19-512499-6 . Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  3. 1 2 McPherson, James M. (1997). For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War . New York City, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. p.  106. ISBN   0-19-509-023-3 . Retrieved April 1, 2016. These soldiers were using the word slavery in the same way that Americans in 1776 had used it to describe their subordination to Britain. Unlike many slaveholders in the age of Thomas Jefferson, Confederate soldiers from slaveholding families expressed no feelings of embarrassment or inconsistency in fighting for their own liberty while holding other people in slavery. Indeed, white supremacy and the right of property in slaves were at the core of the ideology for which Confederate soldiers fought.
  4. 1 2 McPherson, James M. (1997). For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War . New York City, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. p.  109 110. ISBN   0-19-509-023-3 . Retrieved April 1, 2016. It would be wrong, however, to assume that Confederate soldiers were constantly preoccupied with this matter. In fact, only 20 percent of the sample of 429 Southern soldiers explicitly voiced proslavery convictions in their letters or diaries. As one might expect, a much higher percentage of soldiers from slaveholding families than from nonslaveholding families expressed such a purpose: 33 percent, compared with 12 percent. Ironically, the proportion of Union soldiers who wrote about the slavery question was greater, as the next chapter will show. There is a ready explanation for this apparent paradox. Emancipation was a salient issue for Union soldiers because it was controversial. Slavery was less salient for most Confederate soldiers because it was not controversial. They took slavery for granted as one of the Southern 'rights' and institutions for which they fought, and did not feel compelled to discuss it. Although only 20 percent of the soldiers avowed explicit proslavery purposes in their letters and diaries, none at all dissented from that view. But even those who owned slaves and fought consciously to defend the institution preferred to discourse upon liberty, rights, and the horrors of subjugation.
  5. McPherson, James M. (1997). For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War . p. ix. ISBN   9780195090239. In both the Union and Confederate samples, foreign-born soldiers are substantially underrepresented. In the Union sample only 9 percent of the men were born abroad compared with 24 percent of all Union soldiers. Unskilled and even skilled laborers are underrepresented in both samples. Nonslaveholding farmers are underrepresented in the Confederate sample. Indeed, while about one-third of all Confederate soldiers belonged to slaveholding families, slightly more than two-thirds of the sample whose slaveholding status is known did so....Officers are overrepresented in both samples. While some 10 percent of Civil War soldiers served as officers for at least half of their time in the army, 47 percent of the Confederate sample and 35 percent of the Union sample did so. Both samples are also skewed toward those who volunteered in 1861-62 and therefore contain disproportionately few draftees...
  6. McPherson, James M. (1997). For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War . New York City, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. p.  118. ISBN   0-19-509-023-3. OCLC   34912692 . Retrieved March 10, 2016. While restoration of the Union was the main goal for which they fought, they became convinced that this goal was unattainable without striking against slavery.
  7. 1 2 3 "Reviews of "For Cause and Comrades"". Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  8. "Previous Lincoln Prize Winners". Gettysburg College. Archived from the original on September 25, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2015.