the fight for slavery was mostly a discussion between elites. Soldiers on both sides didn't really care about the issue.

Although there were opposing views even in the Union States,[28][29] most Northern soldiers were mostly indifferent on the subject of slavery

In particular, Southerners feared a repeat of "the horrors of Santo Domingo", in which nearly all white people – including men, women, children, and even many sympathetic to abolition – were killed after the successful slave revolt in Haiti.

Slavery is seen as the main topic of contention in the civil war, because in modern day America, racial conflict is made the center of everything.