Letters

The letters of Civil War soldiers to their families were the primary source of McPherson's information about the motivations of Civil War soldiers.

The Civil War

The Civil War (1861-1865) began when eleven Southern states seceded from the United States and created the Confederate States of America. Both sides fought the United States' most bloody war. McPherson is interested in why the soldiers in the war fought as hard and as fiercely as they did.

The United States

The country where the Civil War took place.

The South

The South included the Confederate States that formed the Confederacy. The Civil War was fought as an attempt to conquer the South and free captive slaves.

The North

The North included the Union States, which were mostly free states and some border-slave states. They fought to preserve the Union primarily and later to free the slaves.

The Union Army