Jessica Miller Dr. Berryman English III 18 April 2024 History of War Letters James McPherson is an American historian who specialized in the Civil War. He was an individual that was involved with as much as he could be, such as being a professor. He was the president of the American Historical Association that protects historic America and the society of American historians (James M. McPherson Biography | AHA). In addition to that, he wrote What They Fought For, which is a nonfiction text written to explain the reasoning the Confederate and Union soldiers prevailed throughout the bloodiest war in the United States. It uses Civil War experiences found in letters and diaries to show how the soldiers personally felt about the war. James McPherson,…show more content… If no one was ever able to write these letters, who knows how the families and friends would have felt not hearing anything from them for months at a time. Many soldiers felt subjugated or under control of others. This means that one group will take control over another and make them do what they say. (“Subjugation - Definition, Meaning and Synonyms”). The Civil War had a lot of subjugation, in What They Fought For they talked about it. An example is “Subjugated was the favorite word for the fate worse than death that would face southern whites if the Confederacy lost the war.”(McPherson 12). In the Philippine-American War, Sergeant Elliot would talk about how everyone felt in his letters. He talked about how everyone was homesick, tired of being there and wanted to go home. However, they were not able to. Elliot says, “Most of the general officers think it will take years, and a large force of soldiers, to thoroughly subjugate the natives”(American Soldiers in the Philippines Write Home About the War. ). Along with that, in World War II Carroll Sammetinger was captured along with thousands of Americans. They had then been sent to Stalag XIB and then Oflag
