“Some people in the South fought for the Confederacy for reasons other than to keep slaves.”
Good point. Many or most probably went because they were afraid that everybody they knew would think of them as a yellow belly if they didn’t, and later because they’d go to jail or be shot if they didn’t. So it isn’t like there was a lot of choice involved for anybody.
According to my great grandfather, our family were plain farmers that didn’t want to get involved until union soldiers burned their farms. They fought in self defence and to protect their farms. They were attacked and invaded so they fought back. They were too poor to own slaves and didn’t believe in it. Most regular people back then were the same way.
My grandfather was born in 1865 and grew up in the aftermath of the war. He died in 1963. The Southern Democrats were a scourge back then just like now.
Oh, and you are right. It was dangerous in the south back then for anti-slavery Republicans. Yankees wanting you dead for being southerners and southern Democrat confederates hating you for not fighting for slavory.