For Cause and Comrades book questions and answers
For Cause and Comrades book questions and answers
For Cause & Comrades
Study Guide Questions
Chapter 1
- According to McPherson what were some of the key differences between the soldier in Vietnam and the Civil War soldier? (Pages 4-5)
- How did Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Chamberlain explain the willingness of men to fight? (page 6)
- Who were the skulkers, sneaks, beats, stragglers or coffee coolers? (pages 6-7)
- Did the grumbling and complaining of many soldiers mean that they were poor soldiers or fighters? (pages 9-10)
- Even though each of the officers on pg. 13 write that they were desperate to go home, for what did each keep fighting? (page 13)
- Describe the break-up between James and John Welsh. (pages 14-15)
- Describe the break-up between Charles and James Steedman. Why did Charles stay in the Union? (pages 15-16)
- What was meant by the French phrase “Rage Militaire”? How did effect both North and South? (pages 16-17)
- Few Union volunteers mentioned slavery but when they did, how was it addressed, in their letters? (page 19)
- What was the southern paradox that many southern volunteers mentioned in their letters? That is that they were fighting for __________ and at the same time fighting to keep __________. (pages 19-21)
- Even more so than Liberty and Slavery, what did many more southerners, say they were fighting for and to defend in their letters home? (pages 21-22)
- Many northern soldiers enlisted due to their sense of duty and many southerners due to their sense of honor. Is that sense of honor and duty still true today? (pages 22-24)
- How did the roles of Duty and Honor coincide with the concept of masculinity in men and their letters home? (pages 25-26)
- What was in many letters home after the sense of adventure that had driven them had worn off? (pages 26-27)
- The soldier’s eagerness to fight grew out of their need to prove to themselves and the enemy their what? (page 31)
- What was meant by the phrase “see the elephant”? (pages 30-31)
- What were the letters home like after the men got their first taste of battle? (pages 32-33)
- Why was it difficult for the Civil War soldier to admit to being afraid? (pages 36-38)
- What is meant by the term Combat Narcosis? (41-42)
- What methods were used by both sides to prevent soldiers from running away during the height of battle? (pages 49-52)
- What were some of the ways that the officers adored themselves to their men? (pages 54-56)
- How did many officers re-establish themselves to their men after the men had lost confidence in them? (pages 59-60)
- What role did superstition and the Second Great Awakening play in the Civil War? (pages 62-65)
- What was the view of the “pessimists” in regard to battle and God’s will? (pages 64-65)
- What was the view of the “optimists” in regard to battle and God’s will? (pages 65-66)
- What issue did Christian soldiers have to reconcile when they went into battle? (pages 71-73)
- Many soldiers made a distinction between combat and _____________. (pages 74-75)
- What effect did religion have upon the confederate armies late in the war? (pages 75-76)
- In battle, what did the soldier fear most, that they would show? How did this affect them? (pages 77-79)
- What role did “sickness” play in determining whether a soldier would go into battle or not? (page 79)
- Why did some soldiers who had “safe” jobs behind the lines later try and get to the front to face battle? (pages 80-81)
- What was meant by the term Primary Group Cohesion? (pages 85-86)
- What role did newspapers play in the camps of both Union and Confederate soldiers? (pages 92-93)
- How did many confederate soldiers wed together the fact that they were fighting for their country and their family? (pages 95-96)
- What was meant by the phrase “it was a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight”? (pages 101-102)
- When it came to the heritage of 1776 how did Unionists and Confederates each interpret their fight for Liberty? (pages 104-105)
- What was the paradox in question 36? The South was fighting to be free and at the same time fighting to preserve what? (pages 106-107)
- How did many of the soldiers mix into their letters references to their fore fathers at Valley Forge? (pages 110-111)
- What did many Union soldiers think would happen in Europe if the North lost the struggle of the Civil War? (pages 112-113)
- How did many Union Soldier’s attitude toward slavery change after the went South during the war? (117-119)
- Why were many Union soldiers against the idea of Emancipation? (120-123)
- How did some northern soldiers eventually come to embrace Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation? (page 125)
- Why did the northern soldier eventually like the idea of enlisting African American soldiers into the Union Army? (126-127)
- Even though they were anti-war, why did some Quaker men enlist into the Union Army and fight? (page 129)
- When it came to mail service to the troops, how did the North and South compare? Why was this important? (page 132)
- Instead of cheering up, how did some letters depress the soldiers who received them? (pages 133-134)
- What did husbands tell their wives when they complained or became discontented toward the war? (pages 135-137)
- Over time why did many soldiers feel estrangement toward the population back home and affinity toward the enemy soldier? (pages 140-142)
- Who or what were the “Copperheads”? How did newspapers aid their causes? (pages 143-145)
- Which Confederate state seemed to harness the most contempt and vitriol toward the North? (pages 148-149)
- Describe some of the “souvenirs” that the Confederate soldiers picked up on the battlefield and sent home to family members. (page 151)
- What was the Confederate attitude toward African American soldiers and how were they often treated? (pages 152-153)
- What was the attitude of so many Union troops toward South Carolina? (page 155)
- What did some of the Confederate letters home reflect after the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg? (pages 158-159)
- How did access to a free press affect the morale of the Union and Confederate troops? (page 159)
- What eventually caused soldiers on both sides to breakdown? (pages 163-164)
- What kept many of the volunteers of 1861 and 1862 going, in spite, of the harshness of the last year of the war? (pages 168-170)
- What was the Confederate Congress thinking of doing late in the war that had many southern soldiers divided in their opinions? (pages 171-172)
- What was the resolve shone by the Union letters home during the last few months of the war? (pages 174-175)
- How did the election of 1864 play out amongst the Union soldiers? Was there a difference between who the soldiers supported and who their families supported? (pages 176-178)
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
