What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War

Using letters, diaries, and regimental newspapers to take us inside the minds of Civil War soldiersblack and white, Northern and Southernas they fought and marched across a divided country, this unprecedented account is an essential contribution to our understanding of slavery and the Civil War" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). In this unprecedented account, Chandra Manning With stunning poise and narrative verve, Manning explores how the Union and Confederate soldiers came to identify slavery as the central issue of the war and what that meant for a tumultuous nation. This is a brilliant and eye-opening debut and an invaluable addition to our understanding of the Civil War as it has never been rendered before.