They weren’t mad about the evils of slavery, they were mad because they were too poor to own somebody themselves

I would say that’s an unkind take on the average confederate solider.

One of the only times Im patriotic is when talking about the Civil War and fourth of July. I also will say the Civil War happened for the rich to preserve and spread slavery.

But at this time the average confederate soldier were fighting because it was common to be more loyal to your state than your national government. They were upset on their state’s sovereignty being violated by being invaded by Northern Troops. Though not a average troop we can look at General Lee. He was only on the Confederate’s side because his state joined the Confederacy. That’s where his loyalty laid. Its much the same for the average grunt soldier but they had much less choice in the matter than Lee did.