Why did the soldiers of the Civil War--Confederate and Union--risk their lives, through countless bloody battles and four long, awful years? It is to this question--<em>why did they fight</em>--that James McPherson, America's preeminent Civil War historian, turns his attention. Drawing on more than 25,000 uncensored letters and nearly 250 private diaries from men on both sides, McPherson shows that, contrary to what many scholars believe, the soldiers of the Civil War remained powerfully convinced of the ideals for which they fought throughout the conflict. <em>For Cause and Comrades</em> lets these soldiers tell their own stories in their own words, in a deeply moving exploration of why they fought this war.
