Abraham Lincoln's War Aims Compared to William Sherman and Walt Whitman

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Within a short amount of time after the election of Abraham Lincoln to the office of presidency, the south had seceded from the Union and brought on the beginning of the American Civil War. In 1863, the third year of the war, Lincoln had given a speech of the sacred battle ground at Gettysburg, most notably called the Gettysburg Address. In it, he expressed sincerity for those who fought and died there and most of all, proclaimed his aims of war itself. Walt Whitman, a celebrated poet of the time, traveled from hospital to hospital witnessing the operations of wounded soldiers and also the horrific scenes of death and amputation. His views were very much different than those of Abraham Lincoln and though not evident, were still noticeable in his writings. Last, none other than William T. Sherman himself, a Federal Army General, disclosed letters sent between him and the Confederate General, J. B. Hood and also letters sent between him and the mayor of Atlanta, James M. Calhoun. In them, he expresses his opinions about the war which, not-so-surprisingly, is very similar to Lincoln's.

Lincoln above all solely wanted to save the Union. It was his philosophy that he did not want to rid the country of or promote the institution of slavery, but to prevent the introduction of slavery into new territories and the preserving of the Union. Lincoln, very evidently, stood neutral on the issue of slavery, saying he wouldn't agree with both 1) men who wouldn't save the Union unless they could save slavery at the same time and 2) men who wouldn't save the Union unless they could destroy slavery also (276). This most likely proved to be a huge factor in the war because Lincoln was not choosing sides, but he was more being the mediator. Lincoln...

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... many white men are being wounded and dying for their respective causes. With that being said, it's hard to say that he would've agreed with Lincoln's view of war and that he was willing to pay whatever the cost of preserving the Union because of the fact he's actually witnessing the horrific effects of the war. I doubt that Lincoln took into consideration the effects of the war that Whitman, along with the surgeons and nurses, was witnessing. This is most likely the reason why he doesn't agree with Lincoln too.

Overall, it did not seem like much of the population agreed with Lincoln's war aims because of the division of the country. Half of the country felt one way while the other half felt the entire opposite way. However, I'm sure there are a few that shared the same thoughts that Lincoln did, but that group did not include William Sherman or Walt Whitman.

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