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[Type text] John Doe
Strohmeier
Book Review
In the book What they Fought For by James McPherson the writer explains many
different aspects that people are fighting for. They fought not only just for their own freedom but
also for the freedom of slaves but while some wanted to abolish slavery a lot of soldiers from the
south were for slavery and did not want to lose their slaves for they were the ones that did all of
the work on their farms and did any house work needed. Other soldiers were fighting for their
independence and liberty in which their forefathers already won for them, but they felt like they
were fighting for it themselves. Many people had different outlooks on how the war should go
about and what they should be fighting for but a lot of the reasons for them fighting were not
actually applicable reasons pertaining to freedom of slaves.
In the first part of the book McPherson explains how the soldiers were fighting for
freedom and their liberties. In fighting for their freedom they were not fighting to be free but to
be free of rule from Britain. The confederates wanted to be free from Britain and start to make
their own laws and rules and to become their own nation while the Yankees fought to stay under
British rule. While both sides seemed to have valid reasons to fight for, people throughout the
regiments of both sides had different viewpoints on what they fought for. In his book,
McPherson does a great job of explaining the different viewpoints and the different outlooks and
the war. He explains how they fought for the same reason their forefathers fought for and
Alabama corporal stated “the principles which fired the hearts of our ancestors in the
revolutionary struggle.” Another soldier from the 1st North Carolina Infantry wrote to his father
“Instead of indulging in feelings of despondency let us compare our situation and cause to those
of our illustrious ancestors who achieved the liberties we have ever enjoyed and for which we are
now contending.” A lot of the soldiers seemed to think they were fighting for the rights of their
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[Type text] John Doe
Strohmeier
families and their selves but they were also fighting for more than that. As the war went on the
views of what they fought for were changing. A lot of the confederates just wanted bloodshed
and would do anything in their power to kill every Yankee in their path. One officer rode back
through the battlefield after the battle and wrote “enjoyed the sight of hundreds of dead Yankees.
Saw much of the work I had done in the way of severed limbs, decapitated bodies, and mutilated
remains of all kinds. Doing my soul good. Would that the whole Northern Army were as such
and I had my hand in it.” While the war went on many confederates seemed to have to same
ideological outlooks about the Yankees and how they just wanted to leave their blood
everywhere and leave the bones to bleach in the sun and to never be buried. Such hatred was
driven by means that the southerners did not want to lose their slaves. Others were driven by the
fact that they needed to protect their liberties. A Massachusetts private wrote “I do feel that the
liberty of the world is placed in our hands to defend.” Many soldiers wanted a new form of
government and laws that pertained to people’s rights and they were more than willing to fight
for them. Liberty seems to be a major reason soldiers fought for and the south was fighting to
gain the liberties the Yankees were trying to take away from them. A few years later on March
13, 1865 Confederate Congress passed the Negro soldier bill which allowed slaves to be free if
they fought in the war and started bringing up the idea of blacks and whites being equal. Soldiers
were confused by this and a lot of people did not even want to fight with the blacks. They felt as
they did not have the right to help fight for liberties and freedom because they simply did not
deserve any. One confederate stated “I did not volunteer my services to fight for a free negroes
country but to fight for a free white mans free country and I do not think I love my country well
enough to fight with black soldiers.” So much hatred towards black people caused controversy
and they were fighting and dealing with the same hardships as the whites now. Not long after the
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[Type text] John Doe
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bill was passed though the war came to an end. The war ended with the abolition of slavery and
soldiers still had most of the liberties that they were fighting for. The south lost the ability to
have and house slaves and the war was a major turning point in how it affected the world today.
In What they Fought For, McPherson does a great job explaining the hardships of the
soldiers and the ideologies the soldiers had while fighting. With many fighting to keep their
liberties others were fighting to gain new ones or to help abolish slavery. With the war over and
slavery abolished many of the soldiers were grateful on the turnout of how everything happened
but with slavery now abolished things were a lot different than they were before the war for the
south.
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[Type text] John Doe
Strohmeier
Works Cited
McPherson, James M. What they Fought For 1861-1865. First Anchor Books. April 1995.