The Novel The Killer Angels By Michael Shaara

From April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865 the United States of America was at a war unlike any other in its history; a war against itself. This civil war was fought between the North, known as the Union and the South, known as the Confederacy. Its most memorable battle was the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest and most costly of our nation s history. The attitudes of the Northern leaders and the Southern leaders during the Civil War were both distinct and comparable. Michael Shaara captures the disparate and related attitudes of the Union and the Confederacy in his book, The Killer Angels. The Union and the Confederacy fought for opposing ideas and had contrasting thoughts on the true source of the war, the North had better morale. As a†¦show more content†¦Confederate, Jim Kemper, Major General of the 7th Virginia Infantry, discussed what the war was really about when speaking to Fremantle, an English visitor. Kemper solidified, â€Å"what we are fighting for is our freedom f rom the rule of what is to us a foreign government. That’s all we want and that’s what this war is all about. We established this country in the first place with strong state governments just for that reason, to avoid a central tyranny-† (page 65). Kemper reveals that the war is not about slavery, for it is a mere detail, but instead about people who want to be relieved of United States control so they may govern as they see fit and be comfortable under the government which rules them. In contrast, Tom Chamberlain expressed his views on what the Confederacy said about the influence of the war. Chamberlain believed the war was about slavery and he asserted, â€Å" I don’t care how much political fast-talking you hear, that’s what it’s all about and that’s what them fellers died for, and I tell you, Lawrence, I don’t understand it at all.† (page 343). As many others in the Union, Chamberlain s attitude is that the war is on ly about slavery. Those in the Union were perturbed that soldiers in the Confederacy would kill for something as cruel as slavery. Overall, Michael Shaara conveyed the attitudes of war leaders towards the influence of the Civil War in his writings of the Battle of Gettysburg. Northern and Southern officers of