For Cause and Comrades – Cheap Research Essays

In this essay you will use ONLY the book by James McPherson “For Cause and For Comrades.” It should be a five paragraph, typed, double-spaced, essay of no more than 2 pages. Be sure to put your name on all pages and please staple it! Also: remember to “spell check” and read through your final version to be sure that grammar and punctuation is correct and it makes sense to a reader. Do see your TA at office hours or the Writing Center for assistance so you can submit your best work.
Essay question:
“James McPherson argues that the soldier in the American Civil War most often fought specifically for two things: for a cause he believed in or for the comrades he came to know and depend on in battle. Explain in a standard five-paragraph essay these points using evidence from the book.”
Tips: A formal “five paragraph essay” is broken down into five parts: Introduction, 3 Body Paragraphs, and a Conclusion. Each serves a specific purpose:
Introduction: Gives the reader the “who, what, when, where” of the general topic of your essay and then explains the three main points you will argue in the essay. It is a road map for the reader but it also keeps you, the writer, on track. (Here I will give you an introductory paragraph that you can cut-and-paste into your own essay. You certainly can modify this if you like but feel free to use it just as it is as a start to your essay):
Historian James McPherson in the monograph “For Cause and for Comrades” explains that most historians of the American Civil War that lasted from 1861-1865 concentrate on political reasons that the leaders of the Union and the Confederacy saw war as the only option. What is missing from these accounts is why individual men on each side fought. In this essay, I will show how both Union and Confederate soldiers each believed in their sides’ different causes and how, even when dedication to a political cause was not strong or even present, dedication to their friends and comrades kept them fighting.
[Note: In the introductory paragraph I have identified the “who, what, when, where” of the topic and then have listed three things that will each be one “body paragraphs”—–the Union cause, the Confederate cause, and the universal cause of fighting for comrades.
Body Paragraphs: In each separate paragraph, you explain one of those points identified in the introduction. Each paragraph should have a minimum of one appropriate quote from the book. Two is preferred especially if it shows that there were multiple causes that men identified. Remember to define your terms such as what is or are the “causes” that soldiers on each side said they were fighting for? Where does McPherson get this evidence? Remember also to give the page number for the quote like this after the quoted passage (32).
Conclusion: In many ways, the conclusion is the introduction restated. In a good conclusion paragraph, you invite the reader to agree with you by reminding him or her of your main topic and the examples you used—-a really good conclusion will include quotes (different from those in the body paragraphs) that leave the reader with more testimony from soldiers on the importance of both “cause and comrades.”