Primary Source Perspectives of the Civil War: Article Resources
On the Battlefield
First Battle of Bull Run, 1861
Background information
- Today in History: First Battle of Bull Run
- First Battle of Bull Run History.com
- First Battle of Manassas National Park Service
Primary sources
- Bull Run images
- Bull Run maps
- Bull Run sheet music
- Battle of Bull Run documents
- First-person account of Bull Run
- Letters & diary entries related to Bull Run
Battle of Antietam, 1862
Background information
- The Battle of Antietam America’s Library
- The Battle of Antietam Today in History
- Battle of Antietam History.com
- Battle of Antietam National Park Service
Primary sources
Gettysburg Campaign, 1863
Background information
- Battle of Gettysburg America’s Library
- Today in History
- Battle of Gettysburg History.com
- The Battle of Gettysburg National Park Service
Primary sources
- Letter, Gen. James Longstreet to Col. Edward P. Alexander; and copies of Alexander’s battlefield dispatches to Longstreet and Gen. George E. Pickett during the battle of Gettysburg, 3 July 1863
- Oral history interview extract, Captured During Longstreet’s Charge at Gettysburg
- Extracts from Stuart’s Report of the Gettysburg Campaign Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Battle of Gettysburg books & articles
- Topics in Chronicling America historic newspapers – Gettysburg (1863)
- Battle of Gettysburg maps
- Battle of Gettysburg sheet music
- Battle of Gettysburg images
- First draft of Gettysburg Address
Petersburg & the War’s End, 1864-65
Background information
- The Siege of Petersburg National Park Service
- Petersburg Campaign History.com
- Grant Attacked Petersburg, Virginia April 2, 1865
- The Confederate Capital Falls History.com
- The Campaign to Appomattox National Park Service
Primary sources
- Petersburg images
- Siege of Petersburg image set
- Petersburg maps
- Petersburg sheet music
- Petersburg documents
- Fall of Richmond image set
- Fall of Richmond sheet music
- Four years of fighting : a volume of personal observation with the army and navy, from the first battle of Bull Run to the fall of Richmond
- Newspaper articles
- “Scene of Sherman’s operations,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York, NY), May 25, 1864
- “Grant’s great campaign–the approaches to Richmond,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York, NY), May 30, 1864
- “The war in Georgia–Gen. Sherman’s approach to Atlanta,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York, NY), June 2, 1864
- “From Richmond to Petersburg,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York, NY), June 23, 1864
- “Map of Atlanta and its defenses,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York, NY), September 15, 1864
- “The field of operations in Virginia,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York, NY), April 4, 1865
- “Richmond, and thirty miles around it”, New-York Daily Tribune (New York, NY), April 4, 1865
War Life
Camps
Background information
- Civil War Soldiers Historynet.com, Weider History Group
- The Life of a Civil War Soldier NCpedia
- Civil War Camp Life National Geographic
- Pastimes of the 1860s American Battlefield Trust
- How the US Civil War Influenced Music History
- A Taste of Civil War Foods Camden County [NJ] Historical Society via YouTube
- Civil War food Harper’s Weekly, November 2, 1861 via Son of the South website
- Civil War foodways Food Timeline
- Food & Foraging During the Civil War U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center
- Baking at the Capitol In Custodia Legis blog May 26, 2015
Primary sources
- Civil War camp images
- Civil War camp life sheet music
- Soldiers’ stories
- Glimpses of Soldiers’ Lives: Freeman Mason and Michael Mason
Hospitals
Background information
- Civil War Medicine National Museum of Civil War Medicine
- Civil War Medicine National Park Service
- Civil War Medicine Son of the South website
- Medicine in Virginia During the Civil War Encyclopedia Virginia
- Military Medicine at Wilson’s Creek National Park Service
Primary sources
- Civil War hospital documents
- Pages from A Manual of Military Surgery Prepared for the Use of the C. S. A. Army
- Civil War hospital sheet music
- Civil War hospital images
- Civil War ambulance images
Prisons
Background information
- Civil War Prisons National Park Service
- Civil War Prison Camps American Battlefield Trust
- The Prison Camp at Andersonville National Park Service
- U.S. Civil War Prison Camps Claimed Thousands National Geographic News
Primary sources
- Civil War prison images
- Civil War prison maps
- Civil War prison sheet music
- Civil War prison accounts
- “At Andersonville” The Atlantic monthly Volume 15, Issue 89, March 1865
People in the News
Union General Ulysses S. Grant
Background information
- Ulysses S. Grant White House
- Ulysses S. Grant Civil War Trust
- Historical Information on Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant Association
- Heroes of the Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant
Primary Sources
Union General George McClellan
Background information
- George B. McClellan Civil War Trust
- George B. McClellan National Park Service
- George B. McClellan Mr. Lincoln’s White House
Primary Sources
- George McClellan image set
- George McClellan sheet music
- George McClellan documents
- Correspondence between General McClellan & President Lincoln and others
- Letter: Charges against George B. McClellan William Hughes to Abraham Lincoln
- Letter, Mary Todd Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln advising her husband to remove the hesitant Gen. George B. McClellan from command
- The Militia and the Army, by Major-General George McClellan
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman
Background information
- William T. Sherman Civil War Trust
- William Tecumseh Sherman Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
- William Tecumseh Sherman Biography Channel
- Sherman’s March to the Sea New Georgia Encyclopedia
Primary Sources
- General William T. Sherman image set
- Civil war maps associated with William T. Sherman
- William T. Sherman sheet music
- William T. Sherman documents (1860-1866)
- William T. Sherman correspondence
- Sherman’s March to the Sea: Topics in Chronicling America
Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
Background information
- Robert Gould Shaw American Battlefield Trust
- Robert Gould Shaw Teachinghistory.org
- Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment National Park Service
Primary Sources
- Robert Gould Shaw image set
- Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth regiment National Gallery of Art
- “New York Seventh Regiment: Our March to Washington” The Atlantic Monthly Volume 7, Issue 44, June 1861 (Note: Gould was a member)
- “The Late Colonel Shaw” Cleveland Morning Leader August 07, 1863
Confederate President Jefferson Davis
Background information
- Jefferson Davis American Battlefield Trust
- Jefferson Davis Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- About Jefferson Davis The Papers of Jefferson Davis, Rice University
Primary Sources
- Jefferson Davis images
- Jefferson Davis sheet music
- Jefferson Davis documents (1860-1869)
- Jefferson Davis front-page newspaper coverage (1861-1865)
Confederate General Robert E. Lee
Background information
- Robert E. Lee American Battlefield Trust
- Robert E. Lee PBS, American Experience
- General Robert E. Lee Stratford Hall Plantation | Robert E. Lee Memorial Association, Inc.
- A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters streaming webcast
Primary Sources
- Robert E. Lee image set
- Maps associated with Robert E. Lee
- Robert E. Lee sheet music
- Robert E. Lee documents & books
- Heroes of the Civil War: Robert E. Lee
- Lee surrender primary source set
- Lee surrender documents
Confederate General Stonewall Jackson
Background information
- Today in History: Stonewall Jackson
- Stonewall Jackson was Born America’s Library
- T. J. “Stonewall” Jackson American Battlefield Trust
- Stonewall Jackson Shrine National Park Service
- Stonewall Jackson timeline Virginia Military Institute
Primary Sources
- Stonewall Jackson images
- Stonewall Jackson sheet music
- Stonewall Jackson document & books
- Stonewall Jackson front-page newspaper coverage
- Stonewall Jackson campaign maps
Confederate spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow
Background information
- Rose O’Neal Greenhow Smithsonian Institution
- Rose O’Neal Greenhow University of North Carolina University Libraries
- Rose O’Neal Greenhow Duke University Special Collections Library
- The Beautiful and Intriguing Rose-Intelligence Operations in the Civil War Jerry G. Burgess, Director, U.S. Army Women’s Museum
Primary Sources
- My imprisonment and the first year of abolition rule at Washington by Rose O’Neal Greenhow
- Rose O’Neal Greenhow & daughter photograph
- “The Washington Female Prisoners” Daily Ohio Statesman 25 Jan. 1862
- “Transfer of Mrs. Greenhow and Her Companions to New Prison Quarters” Cincinnati Daily Press (Ohio) 25 Jan. 1862
- “A Southern Heroine” Orangeburg Times (South Carolina) 19 March 1874
- “Civil War Day by Day: Rose O’Neal Greenhow” The Washington Herald (Washington, D.C.) 30 Sept. 1914
Civil War photographer Mathew Brady
Background information
- Mathew B. Brady
- Mathew Brady American Battlefield Trust
- Civil War Photographers: Mathew Brady
Primary Sources
- Images of Mathew Brady
- Brady-Handy Photograph Collection
- Selected Civil War Photographs Collection (most by Brady)
- Mathew Brady newspaper articles
Civil War Nurse Clara Barton
Background information
- Clara Barton American Battlefield Trust
- Founder Clara Barton American Red Cross
- Clara Barton at Antietam National Park Service
- Clara Barton Civil War Timeline Clara Barton Birthplace Museum
Primary Sources
- Clara Barton image set
- Clara Barton Papers
- Selected newspaper articles about Clara Barton
- Senate resolution authorizing Clara Barton to continue searching for missing soldiers
- Clara Barton, war lecture
- “The Women Who Went to the Field” poem by Clara Barton
African American Soldiers
Background information
- African-American Soldiers During the Civil War
- Black Soldiers in the Civil War National Archives
- African Americans in the Civil War PBS, American Experience
- The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Historical Society
Primary Sources
- African Americans: Civil War images
- African Americans: Civil War documents & speeches
- African Americans: Civil War sheet music
- Grand march of the Fifty Fourth Mass. Vols.
- Newspaper articles about the 54th Regiment (1862-1863)
- Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft: December 3, 1863, entry on Union soldiers held as prisoners of war
- Diary of Sergeant Major Christian Fleetwood National Humanities Center
- Samuel Cabble Letter private in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry (colored) American Battlefield Trust
- General Orders 143 (1863) American Battlefield Trust
- Reminiscences of Two Years with the Colored Troops American Battlefield Trust
- Reminiscences of my life in camp with the 33d United States colored troops (1902)
- The Negro as a soldier in the War of the Rebellion (1897)