The American Civil War allows us to explore some of the most important issues in the history of humanity: the struggle for freedom, the equal rights of all men, the fraternal struggle that, from the ancient story of Cain and Abel to our days, always becomes the greatest of tragedies. American Writers as Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson could inspire us the feelings of living war from inside and refrained the principle that war is understandable, although, greatest acts of love and honour of human beings have born in the context of fraternal wars like this. Other pieces of literature that goes into its context, allows us to understand the drama of the role of women in times of war, in cases like "Neverhome" of Laird Hunt, even becoming the beginnings of feminism and the anti-war struggle. Other stories such as Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage" uncover the inner struggles of man between courage and cowardice.