CHANDRA MANNING
This is an important quotation because it helps to dispel a myth that the Civil War was not about slavery. That was the reason that the rebelling states gave for secession, but apologists for the Confederacy have claimed that the average soldier on both sides did not care about slavery. (Two thirds of the Southern Soldiers came from families that did not own slaves; nonetheless it was clear that the main motivation of the Confederate Soldier was to protect the institution of slavery, while that of the Union soldiers was to destroy slavery.) Professor Manning found this in her book: What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War.
Chandra Manning is an American historian who specializes in 19th century U.S. History. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Chandra went on to receive her Ph.D. from Harvard in 2002. She has written several articles that have appeared in various journals and books, and is the author of the books What This Cruel War Was Over and Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War.
