Write a 5 pages paper on murder of westerman as a catalyst of the american civil war cruelty. The alliance of Southern slave states was named as the Confederate States of America, and this alliance was a result of secession of slave states from the Northern American States. There are many books that have narrated the brutal and significant events of Civil War. however, Tony Horwitz’s book Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War is a considerably appropriate and successful book in which Horwitz has narrated the events in contemporary and personal context. In describing the Civil War Horwitz wrote that, “Historians are fond of saying that the Civil War occurred in 10,00 places. Poke a pin in a map of the South and you’re likely to prod lose some battle or skirmish or another tuft of Civil War history” (Horwitz 18). The storytelling acquired by the author illuminates the criticality and impact of the Civil War in contemporary American Society (3-27).

In the Civil War, the murder of Michael Westerman who was a supporter of confederates is considered as one of the most significant events which had intensified the Civil War. This paper will discuss the event of the assassination of Westerman, and it will also explicate the happenings in response to this murder. It is also aimed to describe the social and emotional reasons for the murder of Westerman along with reasons which intensified the war after the murder of Westerman in the light of Horwitz narration in his book Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.

Michael Westerman was during a journey with his wife Hannah just after she gave birth to twin children. Westerman was driving a red pickup truck on which a confederation flag was mounted. He was in Todd County which is a county located in Kentucky. Kentucky was not declaredly a part of Confederation States of America. however, there were many significant similarities present in the conduct of Kentucky with the ideals of Confederation States. Westerman stopped at a gas station for refilling the fuel in his vehicle. At the gas station, there was a group of black teenager who noticed the Westerman’s vehicle with a confederation flag mounted on it which the group of black American teenagers considered as an offense (89-91). The Confederation flag was considered offensive because of the ideology of racial inequality that the Confederation States followed. Westerman was followed by the group of black teenagers who harassed him on the road several times. Westerman increased the speed of his vehicle to escape the encounter with the group of teenagers. Westerman did not know that he was being chased by another car driven by black teenagers. As soon as the car came near to Westerman’s car, a teenager shot a bullet on his car. The gunshot targeted Westerman, and he was murdered in the middle of the road in Kentucky (90-93). Horwitz metaphorically displays the intensity and brutality of civil war along with his interest in it by stating, “The War’s actual landscape was lush with color and beauty” (15).