More Confederates than Unions were illiterate due to the fact that most held professional or clerical jobs (36). To make the sample of Union soldiers' common sense, most blacks could neither read nor write, 2 of those who could were included in the sample (36). Levels of patriotism differed from those of the Upper and Lower South, as the Upper South consisted primarily of cotton states. The Confederates felt like it was a “the rich man swears, but the poor man must make a fifth” (16). The Confederates fought primarily for “independence, property, and way of life” (27). Some characteristics the soldiers had in common were McPherson's calculations for the Union. He concluded that of the 562 letters from Union soldiers read, only 67 percent expressed strong patriotic motives. This is the same as two-thirds of the Confederates. As a result of reading McPherson's book, research showed that Union and Confederate soldiers expressed roughly the same degree of patriotic and ideological beliefs. Even though they both had different reasons for fighting, the levels of sincerity and dedication that were there in their notes