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Princeton professor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and Civil War expert James McPherson discusses the war that killed a larger percentage of the American population than any other war, in this episode of American Heritage's
Great Minds of American History series (also available on
audiocassette). According to McPherson, Union and Confederate soldiers felt they were fighting to defend the same legacy, the institutions established by the founding fathers--self-government, majority rule, democracy, and liberty--but both meant opposite things. McPherson compares the leadership skills of Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln, and the role of black soldiers in the two armies, especially the 54th Massachusetts's attack on Fort Wagner in July 1863 and the debate leading to the Confederate Congress's adoption of the Negro Soldier Bill in 1865. McPherson insightfully and succinctly covers so many key elements of the Civil War--including the importance of the Gettysburg Address, the beginnings of modern trench warfare, the viability of the republic, and the social and economic recovery of the South after the war--in just under an hour on this tape, that it makes you wonder what else is in the 900 pages of his book
Battle Cry of Freedom.
--Tara F. Chace
