What is the theme in The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara?

War is one obvious theme in this novel because it covers one major battle of the American Civil War is war itself. War is defined as an armed conflict between countries or groups that includes killing and destruction. The civil war is a war between two different parts of the country, the North and the South, each believing in their right to live as they chose and to enforce the rules of the country. This novel is about one particular battle in this war. By the opening of the novel, the war has already gone on for many months with the South apparently winning the battles by overwhelming success. The South has been so successful that Lee goes into the battle of Gettysburg with a letter in his possession meant to ask the president of the United States for his surrender.