Americans today are far more questioning of their government and their leaders, and that is all to the good. Certainly, no onecan study the Civil War for very long without being filled with an inexpressible sorrow and anger for the thousands of younglives that were snuffed out in that war, a conflict that, for all of its high ideals and noble rhetoric, was the end result of adecades-long failure of elected politicians to resolve, politically, a set of regional differences that were far less compelling thanthe nation’s intrinsic commonality. It took four brutal years of war to learn that lesson, and many thoughtful Americans fear thatwe may soon have to learn that same lesson–the cost of putting special interests above the common good–again.

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For now, we can read the firsthand accounts of the common but also decidedly uncommon people who fought that great war,and appreciate anew their valor, steadfastness and devotion to duty–qualities that we can hope, perhaps, to emulate, but cannever expect to surpass. Through their own words, at least, we can all be eyewitnesses to war.

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