Research Guides: Civil War, 1861-1865: Introduction

Introduction

Civil War, 1861-1865: Introduction

The American Civil War from 1861 through 1865 is sometimes described as the crucible from which the nation was forged. The cost to the States, north and south, in blood and treasure, is almost inconceivable. This one war accounted for nearly half of all casualties the United States has suffered since its formation.

From the beginning of the war with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, SC, April 12, 1861, to the last battle at Palmito Ranch, Texas, May 13, 1865, the number of lives lost in battle, in prison camps, from disease and exposure, and through causes directly related to the war reached staggering proportions. (See the National Park Service Website for an informative presentation of facts about the war.)

The Battle of Opequon of Winchester, 1864

This Library Guide will provide a staring point and information to aid in your research about the Civil War.

Books

Books at Rowan

All Books at Rowan

To find books use Rowan's Library Search and limit the material type to Books. You can do this either from the Advanced Search page (use the Material Type drop-down menu on the right) or from a search results page (use the Resource Type limiter).

Select E-Books at RU

Ebook Central ebook collection This link opens in a new window
Collection of scholarly e-books in many academic disciplines.
Multidisciplinary collection of scholarly ebooks, offering a strong collection of academic titles from leading scholarly publishers. Includes subscribed and purchased content. It is not a permanent acquisition of e-books, and is subject to change.

See search tips on e-Book Central's homepage.

Library of Congress Classification (LCC) - Civil War

The library organizes its materials using the Library of Congress Classification System (LCC). The classication ranges below also relate to period immediately preceding the onset of Civil War military action. In this classification system the letter "E" represents all United States History.

Class Range	Subject
E 415-416	Middle Nineteenth Century
E 416-420	President James Polk
E 421-423	President Zachary Taylor
E 426-430	President Millard Filmore
E 431-435	President Franklin Pierce
E 436-440.5	President James Buchanan
E 4566-459	President Abraham Lincoln's Administrations, 1861-April 15, 1865
E 456-665	Civil War Period
E 470-478	Military History, Civil War
E 482-489	Confederate States
E 591 - 600	Naval History, Civil War

	The Slavery Question arises in several administrations:
E 423	Taylor's administration 1849-July 9, 1850
E 433	Pierce's administration, 1853-1857
E 438	Buchanan's administration, 1857-1861
E 441-453	Slavery in the U.S. Antislavery movements

Primary Sources

Civil War Primary Sources

Databases

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Select the subcollections The Civil War, Parts I-VII.
Accessible Archives makes available vast quantities of archived historical information, not previously furnished available online. Primary source materials have been assembled into databases with a strict attention to detail allowing access to specific information with pinpoint accuracy. Online full-text search capabilities and digital imaging permits the user to search and manipulate this information in ways never before possible.
African American Newspapers, Series 1 This link opens in a new window
Online access to 270 African American newspapers published in the U.S. from 1827-1998.
Provides online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. This unique collection features papers from more than 35 states—including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection 1684 - 1912 This link opens in a new window
Access to historical periodicals published from 1684 to1912.

American Civil War Research Database
Photographs and information on over soldiers and battles, regimental rosters, officer profiles
American Civil War Letters and Diaries

American History This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedia of American history.
Spans more than 500 years of political, military, social, and cultural history, highlighting the important people and events of the American experience. Includes biographies, events and topics, primary sources, timelines, images and videos, maps and charts. All full text.
American Indian History This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedia of the history of the American Indian.
Offers access to more than 600 Native American groups and over 15,000 years of American Indian culture and history.
American Women's History Online This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedia of the history of women in the United States.
Covers the important people, events, legislation, and issues relevant to the study of women's history in the United States. Includes biographies, events and topics, primary sources, time-lines, images and videos, maps and charts. All full text.
Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from African Americans actively involved in the movement to end slavery in the United States between 1830 and 1865.
Civil War Collection This link opens in a new window
Online archive of newspaper articles published in and books during the U.S. Civil War.
Contains the full text of major articles gleaned from over 2,500 issues of The New York Herald, The Charleston Mercury and the Richmond Enquirer, published between November 1, 1860 and April 15, 1865. Included are descriptive news articles, eye-witness accounts and official reports of battles and events, editorials, advertisements and biographies.
History Vault: Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials candidly documenting the realities of slavery at the most immediate grassroots level in Southern society and provides some of the most revealing documentation in existence on the functioning of the slave system.

Proquest Civil War Era
Civil War era newspapers, pamphlets, and other primary source material
Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War (1865-1877)

Web Resources

American History: From Revolution to Reconstruction and Beyond
The documents tab on the American History website includes documents originating beyond the borders and before the establishment of the United States, but all are related to the history of the country and are very interesting. The site also includes other tabs with a wealth of information and it is worth a visit.
The Civil War: The Nation Moves Towards War (1850-1861)
Conflict between abolition and slavery marked the 1850s, preceding the election of 1860 and the attack on Fort Sumter. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown, and secession in maps, newspapers, political cartoons and song sheets. Part of the Library of Congress Primary Source Sets.
Civil War Women (Duke University)
Colonial North America at Harvard Library
Archival and manuscript materials related to 17th- and 18th-century North America from Harvard Library
Crisis of the Union: Causes, Conduct and Consequences of the US Civil War (Univ. of Pennsylvania)
Print memorabilia about the United States from 1830 to 1880
Library of Congress Civil War Collection
Military Records - Civil War (National Archives, U.S.)
Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspaper Collection (Penn State)
The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865 (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Valley of the Shadow Archive (Univ. of Virginia)
Primary sources from two communities in the American Civil War

More Primary Sources

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Archives of searchable historical primary source materials. See the Subcollections Guide for a list of collections.
Accessible Archives makes available vast quantities of archived historical information, not previously furnished available online. Primary source materials have been assembled into databases with a strict attention to detail allowing access to specific information with pinpoint accuracy. Online full-text search capabilities and digital imaging permits the user to search and manipulate this information in ways never before possible.

Avalon Project
The Avalon Project, a resource of the Yale Law School, provides full text of documents, online, that are important to law, history and diplomacy online. Over the years the collection has grown extensively and has been organized into various topical areas. About forty documents related to Terrorism are included under this title.
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Digital historical collections from the New York Public Library.
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Collections include Africana and Black History, from 16th Century to Present; After Columbus: 400 Years of Native American Portraiture; Turn of the Century Posters; Picturing America, 1497-1899; Prints, Maps, and Drawings Bearing on the New World; A New Nation: The Thomas Addis Emmet Collection of Illustrations Relating to the American Revolution and Early US History.

New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
Access to The New York Times (1851 - 2017).
Presents PDF pages of the newspaper, preserving the visual sense of the publication. This online format replaces the microfiche archival coverage.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials about the Nineteenth Century. See the Subcollections Guide for a list of collections.
Includes books, newspapers, periodicals, diaries and personal letters, manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, maps and musical scores.

North American Slave Narratives
Part of Documenting the American South, "includes all known autobiographical narratives of fugitive and former slaves in the United States to 1920."
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery: Online Exhibits
American portraits in public and private collections in the US and abroad.

Sunday Times Historical Archive (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
Archive of the London newspaper The Sunday Times 1822 - 2016.
Thoughtful analysis and commentary on the week's news and society at large.
Times Digital Archive (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
Archive of The Times (London) newspaper from 1785-2019.
Spans over 220 years, from 1785 through 2014, and includes 1+ million pages and 7+ million articles. Search the complete digital edition of The Times (London) using keyword searching and hit-term highlighting to retrieve full images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured, with all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate searching. View contemporaneous coverage of the world's historical events from the French Revolution to the Iraq War.
Wall Street Journal (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
Online access to back issues of the Wall Street Journal, 1889 - 1999.
Newspaper coverage is from 1889 through 1996. For more recent issues of the Wall Street Journal, select the Wall Street Journal (current) link.
Washington Post (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
Online access to back issues of The Washington Post, 1877-1999.
Includes PDF images of nearly all content published in the Washington Post from the beginning, 1877, through 1997. Search the Washington Post Current edition for information after this end date.

Multimedia

Streaming Video

Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life: Presented By Richard Carwardine, Oxford University and made available trough the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

YouTube Videos

American Experience: Robert E. Lee

(Click "Watch on YouTube.com" for link to the complete film on PBS)

YouTube Videos: Documentaries

The Divided Union: The Story of the American Civil War 1861-65, Part 4: Total War

(Part of a five-part 1987 Arts & Entertainment TV Series)

Scenes from American History (Part 5): A House Divided

[United States Information Service (USIS), 1960]

Battle of Gettysburg

(History Channel, 2011)

Antietam: A Documentary Film

(Historical Films Group, 2000. Narrated by James Earl Jones. Filmed at Antietam National Battlefield and produced in cooperation with The Civil War Trust.)

Civil War Journal: The Battle of Fredericksburg

(History Channel, 1993)

YouTube Videos

Causes of the Civil War: Part 1

Causes of the Civil War: Part 2