civil war essay pdf

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Susan Birkenseer is reference and instruction librarian at Saint Mary’s College of California, email: [email protected]

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The American Civil War: A collection of free online primary sources

Susan Birkenseer

The American Civil War began in 1861, lasted until 1865, and was ruinous by any standard. Within months of President Lincoln’s inauguration, seven southern states began the secession from the Union and declared the Confederate States of America. This split in the fabric of the country began a bitter war, concluding in the death of more than 750,000 soldiers. When the South finally surrendered, the Confederacy collapsed, and slavery was abolished. To understand the conflict, take a look back at the primary documents that highlight decisions of generals, the everyday drudgery of soldiers, and the photographic images of battle.

Hundreds of websites offer insight into the American Civil War. This guide is not comprehensive, but it highlights a diverse collection of free websites of primary sources for the study of the war. These websites include digitized newspaper archives for both the Union and Confederate sides of the struggle, collections of letters and diaries, digitized photographs, maps, and official records and dispatches from the battlefields.

• Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1841–1955). An important daily newspaper, the Eagle was unusual for its time since it covered national as well as regional news. The archive is searchable, can be browsed by date, and includes zooming capabilities to see the tiny text up close. The archive is maintained by the Brooklyn Public Library. Access: http://bklyn.newspapers.com/title_1890/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/ .
• Chronicling America. This site offers access to multiple newspapers from both the Confederate and Union states. Over 1,400 newspapers are in the archive, but not all of them are from the Civil War years. Examples of newspaper titles include: Memphis Appeal (1857–1886), Chattanooga Rebel (1862–1865), New York Sun (1859–1916), and New York Daily Tribune (1842–1866). Search across the newspapers for a range of contemporary stories from both sides of the war. From the Library of Congress. Access: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/#tab=tab_newspapers .

• Richmond Daily Dispatch (1860–1865). This paper was published from the Confederate capital and has a digitized and searchable online archive of 1,384 issues. The site is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Access: http://dlxs.richmond.edu/d/ddr/index.html .
• Secession-Era Editorials. This site from the Furman University history department in South Carolina contains transcribed editorials from contemporary newspapers, all from the 1850s. The specific issues discussed are the Nebraska Bill debates, the caning attack on Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks, John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, and the Dred Scott decision. These events all highlight the varied and inflexible opinions of their time from both sides of the conflict. Access: http://history.furman.edu/editorials/see.py .

Maps and photographs

• Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints. Approximately 7,000 portraits and battleground images are available. The collection is from the glass negatives of Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner, as well as from photographic collections that were purchased by the Library of Congress in 1943. Browse by broad subjects or search by keyword. Access: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/ .

• Pictures of the Civil War. The new era of photography brought the battles home during the American Civil War. The National Archives has organized the Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner photographs into broad categories for easy browsing. Access: http://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/photos/index.html .

Diaries and letters

• Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Approximately 20,000 documents, which include correspondence with enclosures of newspaper clippings, drafts of speeches, notes, pamphlets, and other printed material by Lincoln, are available. Most of the material dates from the presidential years. Lincoln had a lively correspondence with many people in his day, so this is a rich resource. Each piece is scanned, with accompanying transcription. Searchable by keyword or just browse the collection. Access: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html .
• American Civil War Collection at the Electronic Text Center. This site has transcribed letters from the University of Virginia special collections with links to other collections (some links are only accessible by University of Virginia students). Access: http://etext.virginia.edu/civilwar/ .
• The Civil War Archive: Letters Home from the Civil War. A collection of letters from both Union and Confederate soldiers, organized by name and regiment. Access: http://www.civilwararchive.com/LETTERS/letters.htm .
• The Civil War Collection at Michigan State University. A huge online collection of scanned letters, newspaper articles, images, photographs, diaries, and much more, filled with the stories of Michigan soldiers. Access: http://civilwar.archives.msu.edu/ .
• The Civil War Collection at Penn State. Penn State has a rich digitized special collection. These include diaries, newspapers, and other ephemera. No transcriptions are available for the diaries, but the scanned pages are clean and easy to peruse. Access: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/civilwar.html .
• Civil War Diaries and Letters. Browse a list of scanned diaries and letters from the University of Iowa Libraries, some of which currently have transcriptions, but not all. You can also browse by year to get the materials for a particular time. Access: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cwd/ .
• Civil War Diaries and Letters Collections. A collection of diaries and letters from Auburn University, covering both sides of the war; each item is scanned and transcribed. Access: http://diglib.auburn.edu/collections/civilwardiaries/ .

• The Civil War: Women and the Home-front. Duke University has put together this study guide relating to women’s role during the war. Use the tab labeled “Primary Sources Online,” which includes digitized diaries and letters, as well as outside links to other institutions’ collections. The online papers include a collection from Rose O’Neal Greenhow, a famed Confederate spy. Other letters include those written by African American slaves, describing their living conditions in the South. Access: http://guides.library.duke.edu/content.php?pid=41224&sid=303304 .
• First Person Narratives of the American South. Everyday people’s voices speak through their diaries, autobiographies, ex-slave accounts, and memoirs on this site, which is organized alphabetically or by subject. Access: http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/index.html .
• Manuscripts of the American Civil War. This special collection from the University of Notre Dame’s Rare Books and Special Collections contains seven soldier’s diaries, which have been carefully scanned and transcribed. The soldiers represented are from both sides of the war. The diaries highlight their day-to-day experiences—from the mundane to the terrifying. Access: http://www.rarebooks.nd.edu/digital/civil_war/diaries_journals/ .
• Saint Mary’s College of California Special Collections. Saint Mary’s College has a small, select special collection containing letters from a private in the Fifth Vermont regiment, and a diary from a captain of the Sixteenth Michigan regiment. The collections are digitized and transcribed, and the site is well illustrated. Access: http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/library/about-the-library/special-collections .
• South Carolina and the Civil War. The site brings together primary sources by eyewitnesses from the holdings of the University of South Carolina. Included on the site are diaries, sheet music, maps, letters, and photographs. The collections are scanned and viewable, but with little transcription or description. Access: http://library.sc.edu/digital/collections/civilwar.html .
• Valley of the Shadow. Thousands of documents are accessible that compare life in two towns during the war: one in Virginia and one in Pennsylvania. These documents include letters, diaries, maps, newspaper accounts, and other sources. Access: http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/ .
• Virginia Military Institute Archives. The Virginia Military Institute has a proud history of training its students to serve in the military service of the United States. The archives provide access to the full-text of more than 75 letters, diaries, manuscripts, and other ephemera of soldiers from both armies. Access: http://www.vmi.edu/Archives/Civil_War/Civil_War_Resources_Home/ .
• Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience. The University of Wisconsin is in the process of digitizing letters, diaries, poetry, and other writings from Wisconsin’s soldiers; approximately 630 pages to date, with an expected completion number to be more than 2,600 pages. Access: http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/WI/WIWar .

Dispatches and battles

• Antietam on the Web. This site looks at the crucial Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), highlighting generals and other officers, battle maps, and important background information. This site also includes the transcriptions of reports from the officers from both sides of the war, as well as excerpts from diaries and letters of some of the soldiers who survived. Access: http://antietam.aotw.org/index.php .
• Making of America: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies. The Making of America site is an excellent source of primary documents, and this one features the orders, reports, and correspondence from the Union and Confederate navies. The scanned pages of the 30-volume set from the Government Printing Office are annotated and arranged chronologically. The collection is searchable. This is an essential resource for any study of naval operations in the war. Access: http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/ofre.html .
• Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library. This site from Mississippi State University contains the first 31 volumes of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant published by Southern Illinois University Press, and includes his military papers from the Civil War. Also included are photographs and prints from the life of Grant, including photographs from the war. The volumes are searchable as well as browsable. Access: http://digital.library.msstate.edu/cdm/usgrantcollection .
• The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. This 70-volume work from the Making of America site at Cornell University contains the formal reports for both the Union and Confederate armies, including correspondence and orders. The scanned volumes are arranged chronologically and identified with a brief annotation. The volumes are searchable. This is an essential resource for anyone doing serious research on battles, regiments, and the progress of the war. Access: http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/waro.html .

Slavery and abolitionism

• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936–1938. Includes more than 2,300 first-person accounts, and more than 500 photographs. The narratives were collected in the 1930s by the Federal Writer’s Project and the Works Progress Administration, and put into a seventeen volume set. Access: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html .
• Frederick Douglass Papers. A former slave and devout abolitionist, Douglass’s papers were digitized by the Library of Congress. They are searchable, and also can be browsed by date, and then narrowed by type, such as speeches or correspondence. Access: http://www.loc.gov/collection/frederick-douglass-papers/about-this-collection/ .
• North American Slave Narratives. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has a special collection dedicated to slave narratives. Not every manuscript is a primary document, but many are. Included on the site are narratives of fugitive and former slaves in published form from before 1920. For scholars interested in further study, a bibliography of slave and former-slave narratives by William L. Andrews is also included. Access: http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/index.html .
• Slavery and Abolition in the U.S.: Select Publications of the 1800s. Reflecting both sides of the slavery question, these publications from the 1800s include speeches, tracts, pamphlets, books, legal proceedings, religious sermons, and personal accounts. This collection from a cooperative project by Millersville University and Dickinson College includes more than 24,000 individual pages. Access: http://deila.dickinson.edu/slaveryandabolition/index.html .
• Slaves and the Courts 1740–1860. From the Library of Congress’s American Memory Project this site consists of trials and cases, arguments, proceedings, and other historical works of importance that relate to the prosecution and defense of slavery as an institution. The collection contains more than 100 pamphlets and books published between 1772 and 1889. Access: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml/ .

Confederacy

• The Museum of the Confederacy. Various primary sources are accessible, including a collection of photographs, documents, and artifacts relating to Lee and Jackson, the “Roll of Honor and Battle Accounts” from Confederate soldiers, and a searchable database of their collections. Access: http://www.moc.org/collections-archives?mode=general .
• The Papers of Jefferson Davis. A selection of documents from the published papers of the same name that includes speeches, reports, and correspondence. The documents are organized by volume with brief annotations. Access: http://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/documentslist.aspx .

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Causes and Effects of the American Civil War

Essay on American Civil War

Essay generator.

The American Civil War, a defining moment in the nation’s history, was not only a clash of arms but also a battlefield of ideas and ideologies. It was a war that forever changed the social, political, and economic landscape of America and significantly influenced American thinking. This essay delves into the multifaceted aspects of the Civil War, exploring its causes, course, consequences, and the profound impact it had on American thought and society.

The Genesis of Conflict

The seeds of the Civil War were sown long before the first shot was fired at Fort Sumter in 1861. The primary cause was the deep-seated division over slavery. The Northern states, advocating for abolition, clashed ideologically with the Southern states, where slavery was integral to the agricultural economy. The war was also about states’ rights and the struggle for power between the federal government and the states.

Ideological Divisions and Their Impact

The ideological divisions that culminated in the American Civil War had a profound impact on the nation’s history and development. Here are key aspects of these divisions and their consequences:

• Slavery and States’ Rights: The primary ideological division revolved around the institution of slavery and the question of states’ rights. The Southern states argued for the right to maintain slavery as an essential part of their economic and social structure. They believed in states’ rights, asserting that individual states had the authority to decide their own policies, including those related to slavery.
• Abolitionism and Anti-Slavery Movements: On the opposing side, the Northern states saw slavery as a moral evil and sought its abolition. Abolitionist movements gained momentum, advocating for the immediate emancipation of enslaved individuals. Prominent figures like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman played crucial roles in the anti-slavery movement.
• Sectionalism: These ideological differences between the North and the South created deep sectionalism, with each region developing distinct economic, social, and political identities. The North embraced industrialization and modernization, while the South’s agrarian economy depended heavily on slave labor.
• Compromises and Tensions: Several compromises, such as the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, were attempted to ease tensions between the North and the South. However, these compromises ultimately proved unsustainable as the nation’s divisions deepened.
• Election of Abraham Lincoln: The election of Abraham Lincoln as President in 1860, representing the anti-slavery Republican Party, further exacerbated tensions. Southern states viewed his election as a threat to their interests, leading to secession.
• Outbreak of War: The ideological divisions reached a breaking point when the Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in April 1861, marking the beginning of the Civil War. The war became a brutal and protracted conflict with significant loss of life.
• Long-Term Impact: The ideological divisions and the Civil War continue to shape American society and politics. Issues related to race, civil rights, and the role of the federal government remain central to the nation’s ongoing dialogue and struggles.

The Course of the War

The Civil War was marked by bloody battles, strategic military campaigns, and significant figures whose decisions shaped the course of the conflict. Key battles like Gettysburg and Antietam were not just military engagements but also turning points that shifted the war’s momentum. The leadership of individuals like President Abraham Lincoln, General Ulysses S. Grant, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee played crucial roles in the war’s outcome.

The Transformation of American Society

The Civil War brought profound changes:

• Emancipation Proclamation : Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863 declared freedom for slaves in Confederate states, reshaping the war’s moral and political dimensions.
• Economic Changes : The war accelerated industrialization in the North, while the South’s economy, heavily reliant on slavery, was devastated.
• Political Reconstruction : Post-war, the Reconstruction era attempted to integrate the Southern states back into the Union and redefine civil rights, especially for freed slaves.

The War’s Impact on American Thought

• National Identity : The war forged a stronger national identity, transitioning the perception from a collection of states to a unified nation.
• Concepts of Freedom and Equality : The abolition of slavery redefined American values regarding freedom and equality, although the struggle for racial equality continued long after.
• Literature and Art : The Civil War influenced American literature and art, with works like Walt Whitman’s poetry and the paintings of Winslow Homer capturing the era’s essence.

Social and Cultural Ramifications

The war altered the social fabric of America. It led to a significant loss of life and left many families bereaved. Women played new roles, contributing to the war effort and managing homes and businesses in the absence of men. African Americans, both enslaved and free, actively participated in the war, with many fighting for the Union, shaping their future in American society.

The Legacy of the Civil War

The legacy of the Civil War is complex and enduring. It resolved the issue of secession but left unresolved questions about the integration of African Americans into American society. The war also set precedents in terms of constitutional interpretation, federal authority, and civil rights.

Modern Reflections

Today, the Civil War is a subject of extensive study and debate, offering lessons on unity, diversity, and the importance of addressing societal issues. It serves as a reminder of the consequences of division and the value of reconciliation.

In conclusion, The American Civil War was more than a historical event; it was a crucible in which the American identity was reshaped. Its impact on American thinking and society was profound, setting the course for future generations. As students explore this topic, they engage with a critical period that not only defined a nation’s past but also continues to influence its present and future. Understanding the Civil War is key to understanding America itself.

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The Ever-Evolving Historiography of the American Civil War

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