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Essay about Killer Angels

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Wars have been fought for many different reasons through the years, and that holds true for the American Civil War (1861-1865). In Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels, the reasons for fighting the war are brought about through the officers and soldiers at a famous battle site of the Civil War, Gettysburg. Gettysburg was one of the most documented battles of the whole war. It took place over a span of three days and can be viewed as a turning point from Confederate prominence to Confederate demise. The Union and the Confederacy each had their own views as to why they were fighting the war.
The propaganda pitch the Union gave was they were fighting to free the slaves. This was not true! It was said Southerners …show more content…

The Federal government needed the income from the South so they were forced into fighting to save the tax coming from the South. Without consulting Congress, Lincoln sent great armies of destruction to the South. The Southern people had no choice but to defend themselves from this invasion. The South fought, simply, for their independence, as the United States federal government of the northern states refused to allow the South to leave peacefully. The men of the South did not fight to win their freedom; they fought to keep it! For all intents and purposes, if the North had not invaded the South, there would have been no war. The name "civil war" implies that two, or more, groups of people within a country take up arms against each other in a struggle for the government. This was not what took place in the South between 1861 and 1865. It was an invasion of one nation into another independent, sovereign nation. The struggle is properly called "The War For Southern Independence," as that is the most correct description of the reasoning behind the war. The Southern soldier fought to protect his home, State, and Nation from the invading United States army. He fought in honor of his forefathers who had fought against British tyranny. The soldiers of the Confederacy were not traitors. Some historians have branded any man

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