Why did the soldiers of the Civil War, Confederate and Union, risk their lives, through countless bloody battles and four long, awful years? Drawing on more than 25,000 uncensored letters and nearly 250 private diaries from men on both sides, James McPherson shows that the soldiers of the Civil War remained powerfully convinced of the ideals for which they fought throughout the conflict. Motivated by duty and honor, and often by religious faith, these men wrote frequently of their firm belief in the cause for which they went to war: the principles of liberty, freedom, justice, and patriotism.

For Cause and Comrades lets these soldiers tell their stories in their own words to create an account that is both deeply moving and far truer than most books on war. McPherson's masterful prose and the soldiers' words combine to create both an important book on an often overlooked aspect of our bloody Civil War, and a powerfully moving account of the men who fought it.

• Oxford University Press, 1997, 188 pages.