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caitlyn -> RE: Active Duty Military Speak Out Against the War in Iraq (1/17/2007 4:37:57 PM)
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Certainly. As you are a historian, you would already know that period works hold a special place within any study set. Too much of what is written afterwards, tends to be opinions designed to be new theory ... for obvious reasons.
Good period memoirs include extensive works written by James Longstreet, John Gordon and Richard Taylor, for the Confederate perspective ... U.S. Grant, Horace Porter, Philip Sheridan and William T. Sherman for a solid Union perspective.
There are also huge numbers (too numerous to easily list) of very short documents written by military men, civilian leaders, nurses, etc ... that can, and should be considered. McClellan and McDowell, in particular have some interesting things to say.
You can of course draw many conclusions based on works by after-war writers like Shelby Foote, James McPherson and Alan Nevins (one of the better writers, in my opinion). These are all good works, but the opinion portions tend to be a conglomeration of ideas, primarily taken from the works above. They often contradict, which is exactly the point.
To me, saying these was a 'reason' for the Civil War, is just throwing out all opinions that differ with a self-determined conclusion. It becomes pretty clear when you read period writers, that each had their own reason for what they were doing ... hence, the talking point, that even today the motives are often unclear. Jackson would tell you he was fighting to stop an invasion of his home. Gordon, that he was fighting to protect the institution of slavery, and Longstreet, because "money grubbing yankee businessmen" started a war. Three different motives, and yet all three of these men fought on the same side, and were close friends.
My apologies for the highjack.
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