Gods and Generals
The American Civil War was a military conflict between the United States of America (the Union), and 11 secessionist Southern states, organized as the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). It was the culmination of four decades of intense sectional conflict and it reflected deep-seated economic, social, and political differences between the North and the South. Many books have been written on this “first modern war” describing how over 620,000 men were killed. Jeff Shaara goes deeper and explores the personal conflicts of four historical figures, two from the South and two from North: General Lee, General Jackson, Colonel Chamberlain, and Hancock.
Robert E. Lee’s story began with a dilemma; he had to decide whether to stay to fight with the army he has been serving for 30 years or to resign and go to Virginia to defend his home. Life in the army had ruined his life, “He had missed a father’s great joy of watching his children grow and learn... [and] try not to think about what his career had done to his family.” (Pg. 11) Throughout Part 1, Lee feels something missing from inside him: the feeling of action, of war. While in Texas, General Winfield Scott asks Lee to serve as second in command of the Union Army, but due to the possibility that Virginia could also secede, he declines. Still yearning for action, he accepts the command of the Provisional Army, the defense forces for the state of Virginia. He goes on to recruit Major Thoma...
The American Civil War was a major war in the United States between the Union and eleven Southern states which declared that they had a right to secession and formed the Confederate States of America. They were led by Jefferson Davis who was elected as their president. The Union, led by President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party, opposed the expansion of slavery into territories owned by the United States and rejected any right of secession. The United States Civil War began as an effort to save the Union but it ended in a fight to abolish slavery. Tens of thousands of soldiers on each side, in battle after battle, had the courage to march in regular order against the withering fire of the defenders, while those around them fell with hideous and usually fatal wounds for many different reasons. Southerners fought for their rights and their way of life. Blacks for on another and for the end of slavery. Northerners fought to keep the Union together and latter on the end of slavery. Blacks fought for Religion, to demonstrate to all that blacks are just as capable as whites in battle and to show Gods righteousness.
Margaret Mitchell once said: “They knew that love snatched in the face of danger and death was doubly sweet for the strange excitement that went with it.” The Civil war was a trying time for the American people, whether they were on the battlefield or at home. Although the name is quite deceiving, there was nothing civil about this war.I was fought with the violence and brutality that would define a century. Abraham Lincoln and Robert Lee take interesting stances on their Civil War texts Gettysburg Address and Lee’s Letter to His Son.
General Lee admired loyalty as a character trait to be respected as he was intensely loyal himself. When confronted with a choice at the beginning of the war, Lee chose to stay loyal to his home state of Virginia and resign his commission with the Union army. “He considered himself an American. He hated secession, as he hated slavery. Above all though, he was a Virginian” (Marrin 33). Lee’s loyalty to Virginia meant he fought for the very beliefs he disagreed with, slavery and succession. Unfortunately, Lee’s loyalty resulted in one of his greatest personal failures as he ended up on the losing side of the war. Confronted with the reconstruction of the United States under one flag, Lee refocused his loyalty and “urged former Confederates to become loyal Americans” (Marrin 192). Once he made a decision, Robert E. Lee embraced the change to the focus of his loyalty but never wavered in his passionate approach toward his allegiance.
Book Title: The American Civil War: A Handbook of Literature and Research. Contributors: Robin Higham - editor, Steven E. Woodworth - editor. Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1996
Simpson, Brooks D., Stephen W. Sears, and Aaron Sheehan-Dean, eds. The Civil War: Told by Those Who Lived It. New York: The Library of America, 2011. Print.
The Civil War is said to be one of America’s bloodiest wars. Neighbors killed neighbors and brothers killed brothers; the entire nation was divided. Two opposing sides had formed, the North and the South, and each side was led into battle by a powerful general. The North was led by General Ulysses S. Grant and the South was led by General Robert E. Lee. These men were both alike and different. This is shown in Bruce Catton’s “Grant and Lee: a Study in Contrast”. Through Catton’s essay it is shown that during the Civil War America was divided and each side was living different lives with different perspectives, while at the same time both sides leaders, Grant and Lee, were equally matched and represented Americas division.
On April 12, 1861, squadrons of soldiers opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort 33 hours later. Sumter was one of the United States’ last outposts in the recently formed Confederacy of former Southern states. With its fall, the American Civil War began. Lasting four years, the Civil War tore apart what Abraham Lincoln had termed the “bonds of affection” between the North and South. Yet it was not a spontaneous occurrence. What incited the Confederacy to fire on Fort Sumter had its roots in deeply entrenched divisions that had been on the verge of bursting for years. The Civil War owed its existence to three crucial factors: the never-ending debate over slavery, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and sectional tensions fueled by the Republican Party. Each of these contributed majorly to the development of what would become the most devastating war fought on American soil.
For generations students have been taught an over-simplified version of the civil war and even now I am just coming to a full understanding of the truth. The civil war was a terrible rift in our nation, fought between the northern states (known as the union) and the southern states (the Confederate States of America). The people’s opinions were so divided over the issues of the civil war that, in some families, brother was pit against brother. Eventually, the south succumbed to the north and surrendered on April 9th, 1865 but not before the war had caused 618,000 deaths, more than any other war in U.S. history.(1) In truth, many believe this horrible war was fought purely over the issue of slavery. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am not denying that slavery was a major cause and issue of the civil war, but social and economic differences as well as states’ rights were just as important issues and I will be discussing all three.
If Civil Wars could be represented by a single person, the personification of the struggle in the United States between the North and the South would be a frightful individual to behold. Unfortunately, for Jefferson Davis, his life and temperament came close to embodying the gruesome inward fight of the American Civil War (or at least the Southern part). As men go, he was labeled an enigma. He was both a contradiction and a confirmation of himself, unpredictable yet foreseeable. His insecurities were major weaknesses. Without the special skills of a “people person”, he was thrust into a position of leadership over unorganized and untrained men. Despite these things, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, attempted to overcome all of it. In this way, he exemplified the Civil War and the further internal strains of the American South.
The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 between the Confederate States of American or the “South” and the Union or the “North”. It consisted of many battles including Shiloh, Antietam, Stones River, and the Battle of Gettysburg. It was an estimated 620,000 men that lost their lives during this gruesome war. Most consider the war to have been inevitable because neither the North nor South was willing to compromise in their beliefs or values in order to avoid it.
The American Civil War fought from 1861 to 1865 is described as “the bloodiest conflict in the history of North America” (Feature Causes Of The Civil War). The Civil war or war between the states was fought for many economic, political and moral reasons tracing back to the very start of America. The civil war fought between the Northern and Southern states is truly a significant event in the history of the United States because it involved American citizens fighting against each other. The American civil war was initiated through the controversy over slave labor, unfair actions toward Southern states and the vast division between the Northern and Southern states.
Young children for generations have learned that the purpose of the Civil War, or the war between the states, was to free the slaves. The noble goal of freeing the slaves and ending slavery became the focus of instruction and the way most Americans would explain the cause of the Civil War. When the North entered the American Civil War it had many reasons to do so, least of which was to end the practice of slavery in the South, its primary goal was the preservation of the Union . To fully understand the issues leading up to the American Civil War and the motivation for the North engaging in this conflict, it is necessary to learn about: The economy, ideology, and statistics of the United States in the
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”1 These words, spoken by Abraham Lincoln, foreshadowed the war that became the bloodiest in all of the United State's history. The Civil War was a brutal conflict between the North and South; brother against brother. With slavery as the root cause, Southern states had seceded from the Union and were fighting for their independence. They became the Confederate States of America (CSA) and were a force to be reckoned with. The Union, however, put up a fierce struggle to preserve the country. If the Civil War was to be a war of attrition, the North had the upper hand because of its large population, industrialization, raw materials, railroad mileage, and navy. But if the war was short lived, the South had the strong advantages of knowledge of the land with a friendly population, superior commanders, an adaptable lifestyle, and a passion for “The Cause”. It took four years (1861-1865) before the Civil War was resolved. The first two years proved to be successful for the CSA, but as the war dragged on and after the battle of Gettysburg, the tide turned in favor of the North. Ultimately, the seceded states were reunited with the Union and are part of the United States as we know it today.
Gods and Generals, 2003, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain (JEFF DANIELS), Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee (ROBERT DUVALL), Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (STEPHEN LANG), Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker (MAC BUTLER), and Capt. Alexander ‘Sandie’ Pendleton (JEREMY LONDON).
The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, or simply the Civil War in the United States, was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865, after seven Southern slave states declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America . The states that remained in the Union were known as the "Union" or the "North". The war had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, especially the extension of slavery into the western territories. Foreign powers did not intervene. After four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring national unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began.