Most Southern soldiers viewed the driving issue to be sovereignty rather than slavery. Love of the Union was palpably stronger in the South than in the North before the war - just as overt patriotism is today - but it was tempered by a strong belief that state sovereignty existed prior to the Constitution and that it had never been surrendered.

The function of combat is not merely to perpetrate violence, but to perpetrate violence on command, instantaneously and reflexively. The function of the service academies is to prepare men for leadership positions where they may someday exercise that command.

Most Southern soldiers viewed the driving issue to be sovereignty rather than slavery. Love of the Union was palpably stronger in the South than in the North before the war - just as overt patriotism is today - but it was tempered by a strong belief that state sovereignty existed prior to the Constitution and that it had never been surrendered.