The Civil War: part II

8G6

Share skill

Time to get in the zone!

Your teacher would like you to focus on skills in .

Let's pick a skill from these categories.

Get started

Stage 1
Answer 5 out of 6 questions correctly.

Incomplete answer

You did not finish the question. Do you want to go back to the question?

Nearly 3 million Americans fought in the Civil War—about 2 million for the Union and more than 750,000 for the Confederacy. Soldiers on both sides fought for a variety of reasons, many of which are revealed in the personal accounts they kept, including diaries, letters, and memoirs.

Match each excerpt from a soldier's account to the reason it shows for fighting in the Civil War.

Many soldiers fought out of a sense of patriotic duty to their country.

Many Northerners fought to end the institution of slavery across the country.

Many poor Southerners were drafted, or forced to fight, by the Confederate government, while rich planters were exempt.

Many Southerners fought to protect the institution of slavery in the South.

Excerpt

Reason for fighting

Dear wife . . . I am a soldier now and I shall use my utmost endeavor to strike at the rebellion and the heart of this system [of slavery] that so long has kept us in chains.—Samuel Cabble, Massachusetts

I could be at home if it weren't for a few big rulers who I cannot help but blame for it. . . . They lay at home feasting on the good things of the land . . . while we poor soldiers are forced away from home.—James Zimmerman, North Carolina

This country without slave labor would be completely worthless . . . .We can only live and exist by that species of labor: and hence I am willing to fight to the last.—William Nugent, Mississippi

While duty calls me here and my country demands my services I should be willing to make the sacrifice. . . . —Henry Crydenwise, New York