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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. After the battle of Seven Pines, a captain from which state wrote that he was fine as long as there was battle but that afterward he was quite sick for a few days?

2. After the battle of Chancellorville, a lieutenant in the 17th Connecticut wrote home that the captain had resigned and gone home; what was the captain's name?

3. Soldiers in the discussion of military coercion stood firm under fire for the Prussian army under the command of ________ because they feared their officers more than the enemy.

4. When discussing various war memoirs, McPherson mentions that Union artilleryman John Billings wrote which of the following?

5. A private in the 1st Virginia reported, after the battle of Sharpsburg, that a man in the 24th Virginia was whipped publicly for cowardice; how many lashes did the man receive?

Short Essay Questions

1. What conclusion is reached about the role of religion as a motivating factor at the end of "Chapter 5: Religion is What Makes Brave Soldiers"?

2. How did the Calvinist doctrine of predestination factor into soldiers' lives in the discussion of religion?

3. When discussing his framework for the book, what three categories does McPherson say he has used and borrowed from John A. Lynn?

4. What methods did officers used after they were confronted with undisciplined troops early in the war?

5. For what purpose does McPherson relate the story of James and John Welsh in the opening of "Chapter 2: We Were in Earnest"?

6. What effect did the prospect of death have on the Confederate army during the discussion of religion?

7. In the discussion of regimental bonding, what is "primary group cohesion"?

8. What questions did the Princeton students have when McPherson took them to Gettysburg in the spring of 1976?

9. In the discussion of cowardice, McPherson says that officers were held to even higher standards of bravery. What effect did this expectation have on officers?

10. After the discussion of courage, bravery, and valor, what fear does McPherson say Civil War soldiers wrote even more about than the three-part concept of honor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Using all available references to officers of both armies, compare and contrast Union and Confederate officers. In what ways did their talents and methodologies differ? Include supporting information from the text.

Essay Topic 2

In a well-developed essay, compare and contrast the Northern concept of liberty with that of the Southern version of liberty. In what two major ways do their interpretations differ? Be sure to include supporting information from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the reactions of soldiers who received encouraging letters from home with those who received complaining letters from home. What affect did each type of letter have on soldiers in the book? Include supporting information from the text.

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