For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War

For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War is a 1997 nonfiction book by James M. McPherson. McPherson has taught at Princeton since 1962 and written numerous books on the American Civil War, including Battle Cry of Freedom, which won the Pulitzer Prize in History. 

After several instances of visiting Civil War battlefields and finding himself unable to satisfactorily answer why so many men gave their lives in the war, McPherson sets out to find an answer for himself. He begins by researching letters and diaries instead of published journalism, because, he says, letters will give him a truer account of the lives of soldiers than will any published work.

Each chapter represents a different reason—or cause—as to why soldiers first enlisted to fight, and then, later, continued to fight. What he finds are varying answers, but most have to do with a sense of duty, either to man, God, or country. Southern soldiers see the war as an invasion of their right to self-govern, while Northern soldiers see it as their duty to keep the country together. Both sides see the war as a way to gain the respect of their peers, their family, and their country.