![]() "Featuring a new Afterword by the author"-P. This "new birth of freedom," as Lincoln called it, constitutes the proudest legacy of America's bloodiest conflict.This volume makes sense of that vast and confusing "second American Revolution" we call the Civil War, a war that transformed a nation and expanded our heritage of liberty. Eventually, the North had to grapple with the underlying cause of the war-slavery-and adopt a policy of emancipation as a second war aim. Particularly notable are new views on such matters as the slavery expansion issue in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and the reasons for the Union's victory.The book's title refers to the sentiments that informed both the Northern and Southern views of the conflict: the South seceded in the name of that freedom of self-determination and self-government for which their fathers had fought in 1776, while the North stood fast in defense of the Union founded by those fathers as the bulwark of American liberty. It then moves into a chronicle of the war itself, the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War: the Dred Scott decision: the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. Chapter 16: We Must Free the Slaves or Be Ourselve.Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, this fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox.Chapter 15: Billy Yank's Chickahominy Blues.Chapter 12: Blockade and Beachhead: The Salt-Water. ![]() Chapter 11: Farewell to the Ninety Days' War.Chapter 9: Facing Both Ways: The Upper South's Dil.Chapter 8: The Counterrevolution of 1861.Chapter 6: Mudsills and Greasy Mechanics for A. ![]() Chapter 1: The United States at Midcentury. ![]() (This is actually really interesting, since I thought Gettysburg and Vicksburg happened and then the war just ended, though that wouldn't make sense since the war only ended in 1865.) Though the war continued for two more years, Gettysburg and Vicksburg proved to have been the final turning point. Lee was depressed by the outcome of his campaign and offered his resignation. Southern morale was completely crushed still, the Union suffered many casualties at Gettysburg and even more Confederates were killed. Of the 14,000 Confederates that began at the beginning of the battle, less than half returned. Although they breached the first Union line, many were killed. The Union weapons had not been destroyed the Union forces were merely hiding and when they counterattacked, the Confederates collapsed. Pickett's charge represented the Confederate war effort, McPherson claims they seemed to have a deep sense of identity and pride they were brave and it would like they were winning, but eventually they only lost. Longstreet then ordered the attack on the Union line at Gettysburg since it seemed the Confederates thought they had disabled the Union's weaponry. The boost in morale that followed after this battle for the Confederates actually proved to be bad many of them believed too much in their abilities and a hatred against the Unionists and believed they couldn't be defeated. About a third of their forces were killed and Stonewall Jackson died. Joe Hooker didn't use his troops as efficiently during the battle, but the Chancellorsville battle, which the Confederates won, cost them. But, the Union, McPherson claims, won the war because of its many victories in the West, since the Confederacy came close to winning in the East. This was the most important northern strategic victory Grant believed the Confederacy fell because of this victory. On July 4, 1863, the Confederacy went away from Gettysburg, and in Mississippi, Union troops captured Vicksburg.
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