America has always approached its conflicts as if extending the thought of the uniquely American way of life, that is to say as if to leave each man to his own devices and choices free to make or break his own way into life as he has been endowed by his creator. National defense, up until the advent of the Second World War was something for a small national army to attend to. The American Civil War was fought not by professional armies but by armies filled with patriots who answered the call of their respective side and put aside all personal want or gain for the larger call of defending their nation. As a historian and writer, I've collected some of my knowledge and research into this article to aid fellow writers in their desires to write short stories and novels set in the Civil War.

Why we fought

Reasons for volunteering are as varied as the individuals who fought. They can however be broken down into one of several categories and these can be considered as typical for the majority of soldiers on both sides of the war.

At the start of the war, patriotism was the primary reason hundreds of thousands gathered at town meetings, churches, court houses, and post offices to hear speeches, calls for patriotism, and opportunities for adventure. Volunteers on both sides of the Mason Dixon line saw the other in terms of five decades of sectional tensions and propaganda. For the typical northerner, the southern states that one by one voted to secede from the Union were traitors, rebelling against the lawful and legitimate government in Washington. Slavery was considered