Peopling the American Past

The Civil War Experience

References:

Books & Media

Clinton, Catherine. Life in Civil War America, National Park Service Civil War Series, Eastern National, 1996.
One in a series of NPS books, it gives a broad view of civilian life during the Civil War, to enhance the teacher’s background information.

Davis, William C. A Concise History of the Civil War, National Park Civil War Series, Eastern National, 1994.
This book profiles major battles, wartime leaders and political events of the Civil War to aid with teacher notes.

Gevison et al. History Matters: A Student Guide to U.S. History Online, Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.
This is a great resource for websites, especially when looking for specific items.

McPherson, James. Ordeal By Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction, 2nd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992.
This book is a major resource for specifics on the causes, conditions and events before, during and after the Civil War. I used it as a reference for notes and for general background information.

Robertson, James, Jr. The Civil War’s Common Soldier, National Park Service Civil War Series, Eastern National, 1998.
This book was a quick resource for examining soldiering on both sides of the conflict.

Weber, Richard. Preparing for the SOL United States History Test, New York: Amsco Publications, Inc., 2003.
This book is a resource for SOL’s and major ideas to be covered.

Websites

American Civil War — student timeline
Although a commercial site, it has a year by year pictorial timeline with links to images, biographies and primary source documents. Eastern and Western theatre maps show troop movements for each year of the War. It offers comprehensive but usable study of the events of the Civil War.

Brooklyn Public Library
This site features a diary and interactive map of the experiences of a Union soldier. It also focuses on wartime events and other historical data of Brooklyn, NY.

Civil War Treasures from the New York Historical Society
Library of Congress, American Memory, New York Historical Society
This site has images and documents of the Civil War

Enhanced Scope and Sequence — United States History, gr.11
Virginia Department of Education
This site acts as a reference for SOL objectives and sample lessons for the study of the US History. It provides links to websites useful for the study of the Civil War.

Harpers Weekly
This website has a wealth of images such as political cartoons from Civil War era United States. Several images offer insight into popular criticisms of President Lincoln’s wartime policies.

Lee Surrenders — Correspondence between Grant and Lee
This site contains transcript images of letters and other primary sources from various eras in US History.

Library of Congress — Gettysburg Address
Library of Congress — Grant’s Letter to Edwin M. Stanton
Library of Congress — Sec. Of War
Within the Library of Congress website are collections such as American Memory, which features images and certain key documents in history. The site has an extensive base of primary sources such as letters to and from Abraham Lincoln. The Frederick Douglass letters span years of Douglass’ life, demonstrating his role in civil rights beyond the Civil War. There are numerous documents involving wartime negotiations, statistical reporting and internal military and political matters.

National Archives and Records Administration — Exhibit Hall
(go to “American Originals”) Emancipation Proclamation, Also for selected photographs. Featured documents and Civil War era photographs are available on this site.

This three-year project is a partnership of Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Frederick, Manassas City, Orange, and Winchester school districts and George Mason University's Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and Department of History and Art History. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.