NOTHING IN AMERICAN HISTORY has ever equaled the death and destruction of the intense and bloody warfare of 1861-1865 between Americans. Given the size of the population at the time, that period is unmatched in the scale of military mobilization, in the destruction of property on our own soil, and in the casualties, not only of soldiers but of Southern civilians, black and white.

For later generations, such a horror must have the comfort of a moral justification. We fall back on righteousness and romanticism: The war must have been a noble and necessary crusade carried out against evil people who refused to give up their slaves.

But is this true? Did those men in blue really sacrifice their lives for the freedom and equality of black Americans? Did those men in gray give their lives so that some could continue to hold black Americans in slavery?

Garry Bowers, with twenty years teaching experience in Alabama public schools tackles this great question with information, reason, and courage. Shotwell is proud to publish this work for the use of students and teachers.