Killer Angels
Killer Angels
Killer Angels is a fictionalized account of the fall of the Confederacy and victory of the Union otherwise known as the Battle of Gettysburg. This battle that started on July 1st and lasted 3 days was the major turning point of the Civil War. The two sides were fighting for two very different reasons. The Southern rebellion states were fighting for their states rights, to keep slavery and their independence from the Union. The South, unlike the North, thought of slaves not as humans but like animals. For instance, a man from the South talked about freeing his slaves and says, “Let me put it this way. Suppose I kept a fine stallion in one of my fields, and suddenly one of your Northern abolitionists came up and insisted I should free it. Well, Sir I would not be more astonished. I feel exactly that way about my blacks and I resent your lack of knowledge, sir.” (pg.177) He was talking about how, to him, a slave was no more than a horse.
The North, on the other hand, was fighting in the beginning to preserve the Union. However, later the focus changed to the ending of slavery after the Emancipation Proclamation.
The headstrong second in commanded of the Rebel army was Major Longstreet. He was lonely and depressed because of the recent death of his children.
Longstreet didn’t like the idea of fighting against men he once fought alongside. He talked to Lee about how they all took the oath, the oath to protect and defend the country. Longstreet said, “I must say, there are times when I’m troubled. But… couldn’t fight against home. Not against your own family. And yet we broke the vow.” (p.g.191) So neither Lee nor Longstreet was necessarily fighting because they liked slavery; they were fighting for their home and their people.
You could say Longstreet had a more modern view on war tactics. He approached Lee with the ideas of dividing the army and coming from Washington as well. But Lee wasn’t ready for this change; Longstreet said
Killer Angels is a fictionalized account of the fall of the Confederacy and victory of the Union otherwise known as the Battle of Gettysburg. This battle that started on July 1st and lasted 3 days was the major turning point of the Civil War. The two sides were fighting for two very different reasons. The Southern rebellion states were fighting for their states rights, to keep slavery and their independence from the Union. The South, unlike the North, thought of slaves not as humans but like animals. For instance, a man from the South talked about freeing his slaves and says, “Let me put it this way. Suppose I kept a fine stallion in one of my fields, and suddenly one of your Northern abolitionists came up and insisted I should free it. Well, Sir I would not be more astonished. I feel exactly that way about my blacks and I resent your lack of knowledge, sir.” (pg.177) He was talking about how, to him, a slave was no more than a horse.
The North, on the other hand, was fighting in the beginning to preserve the Union. However, later the focus changed to the ending of slavery after the Emancipation Proclamation.
The headstrong second in commanded of the Rebel army was Major Longstreet. He was lonely and depressed because of the recent death of his children.
Longstreet didn’t like the idea of fighting against men he once fought alongside. He talked to Lee about how they all took the oath, the oath to protect and defend the country. Longstreet said, “I must say, there are times when I’m troubled. But… couldn’t fight against home. Not against your own family. And yet we broke the vow.” (p.g.191) So neither Lee nor Longstreet was necessarily fighting because they liked slavery; they were fighting for their home and their people.
You could say Longstreet had a more modern view on war tactics. He approached Lee with the ideas of dividing the army and coming from Washington as well. But Lee wasn’t ready for this change; Longstreet said