In April of 1861 the Northern and Southern regions of the United States of America went to war. Many Americans fought and died, both young and old. One soldier was Orsell Cook Brown, a business student from New York who served in the Union army from 1861 to 1865. From Chautauqua County, New York, he was the son of Sam Brown who was a successful entrepreneur, and one of eight children. Though he came from a wealthy family and was on his way to study business and economics at Bryant and Stratton College, Orsell volunteered for the Union Army and was mustered in on August 30, 1861 with Company A of the 44th New York Infantry Regiment. He gave up a comfortable lifestyle with his family who he loved to serve his country. He like many other college …show more content…
He calls this the Northern Character which is described as a “progressive view for the nation’s future and an abiding fear that is had lost its moral bearings.” The fear Wongsrichanalai talked about were “selfishness and radicalism would derail the American experiment.” These students joined the war effort because of their fears that the South’s stance on slavery and their secession would destroy the United States. James McPherson, another Civil War historian had his own view on why students joined the war. McPherson believed that educated soldiers joined the war because they fought for the future of their country, “Americans in both North and South believed themselves custodians of the legacy of 1776. The crisis of 1861 was the great test if whether they were worthy of the heritage of liberty bequeathed to them by the founding fathers.” McPherson believed that these men from both North and South, saw themselves and their views as the true American way. That the forefathers of the Constitution, or the “legacy of 1776” would have wanted them to fight this