Manning, Chandra

OUR SYNOPSIS: Chandra Manning illuminates “what individual soldiers thought about the relationship between slavery and the Civil War.” (4) She delves into the personal in the war’s archive, focusing on diaries, letters, and regimental newspapers written during the conflict to amplify individual stories. She argues the preservation of slavery to preserve their perceived interests motivated Confederate soldiers, while commitment to the United States and the values it represented motivated Union troops. Manning convincingly disproves all arguments that slavery was not central to the war cause on both sides. Confederates did not need to be enslavers themselves to fight for slavery since even non-enslaver southerners subscribed to the idea that slavery was foundational to the idea of property ownership. She shows this often directly relating to manhood and its connection to providing for one’s family. Union soldiers also saw the war as connected to their manhood and creating an ideal future for their families. The core unifying motivator for northerners was the preservation of liberty.