US History Links

Student Site

Chapter 14: The Crucible of War, 1861-1865

Links

American Memory at the Library of Congress's "Time Line of the Civil War"
A detailed time line with notations about the events. The site is peppered with period photos. A well written time line from an excellent source.

United States Civil War Center's "Index of Civil War Information on the Internet" This is the "mother load" of Civil War links. The site was established as a special department at the Louisiana State University. The site does have a fulltime web master and the links appear to be of good quality from excellent sources. Unfortunately, the links are not annotated so you will need to be careful of the information. Before using this link, you should take some time to read the Researcher's Toolbox, the link is at the bottom of this web page, about how to evaluate a website for content.

The Currency Gallery's "United States Notes"
An interesting site with information about the currency from the 1860's. Has several images of each of the denominations of paper currency that was issued by the Federal Government as links, (look at bottom of page).

    Academic Info's "African American History: Civil War"
The site, which is a "links page", contains many useful web links for the period. Be aware that some of the links maybe broken. You will also need to be cautious of the information contained on some of the links, while the webmaster has attempted to verify the information it is still the responsibility of the user to verify the facts. Much of the web is maintained with little money and few proof readers, so errors are common! Before using this link, you should take some time to read the Researcher's Toolbox, the link is at the bottom of this web page, about how to evaluate a website for content.

    American Civil War Resources, http://spec.lib.vt.edu/civwar/
"A collection of letters, journals, sketches, and personal papers of participants on both sides of the Civil War. Part of the Virginia Tech Library's Special Collections, the page also includes links to related sites."*

    Letters from the Front, http://www.unc.edu/lib/mssinv/exhibits/civilwar/
"Letters from the battlefield by Union and Confederate Soldiers. Part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Southern Historical Collection, the letters are color-coded by the battlefield from which they were written."*

    Poetry and Music of the Civil War, http://users.erols.com/kfraser/
"A collection of songs and poems from both sides of the Civil War. Created by Kathie Fraser, the site provides a glimpse into Civil War culture. It contains both lyrics and audio files of many songs, as well as commentary on the songs and poems. Audio files are in MIDI format."*

    Selected Civil War Photographs, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html
"A collection of 1,118 Civil War photographs from the Library of Congress's American Memory Collection. Most of the photographs were made under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady, the era's leading photographer, and include scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle aftereffects, as well as portraits of both Confederate and Union officers and a selection of enlisted men."*

    The American Civil War Homepage, http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html
"A comprehensive resource bank on the American Civil War. Maintained by George Hoemann of the University of Tennessee, the site contains letters, documents, photographs, information about battles, links to other sites, and regiment rosters. Highlights include links on Jewish-American U.S. Civil War Veterans, Civil War Music and American Folk Songs, and the Confederate Currency Page."* The site, which is a "links page", contains many useful web links for the period. Be aware that some of the links maybe broken. You will also need to be cautious of the information contained on some of the links, while the webmaster has attempted to verify the information it is still the responsibility of the user to verify the facts. Much of the web is maintained with little money and few proof readers, so errors are common! Before using this link, you should take some time to read the Researcher's Toolbox, the link is at the bottom of this web page, about how to evaluate a website for content.

    The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries, http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/CWLDLive/
"The American Civil War Letters & Diaries contains 460 authors and approximately 32,000 pages of letters, diaries and memoirs. When complete, the collection will include more than 100,000 pages of primary materials. Each source has been carefully chosen using leading bibliographies. References accessible for free. Content by subscription only."*

    Valley of the Shadow, http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2
"University of Virginia site with source material on Augusta County, Virginia and Franklin County, Pennsylvania from the time before, during, and after the Civil War. This project takes a unique perspective on the Civil War by viewing the conflict through the eyes of two communities representing different sides of the war between the states. The Web page houses letters and diaries, church records, military records, newspapers, public records, and maps and images from both counties. These documents give firsthand accounts of the impending war and its impact on these two areas. The project is constantly updated with more materials and resources."*

* sv. "Links", http://bedfordstmartins.com/tap/

Primary Documents

Ordinances of Secession of the 13 Confederate States of America

Emancipation Proclamation

Homestead Act of 1862

Pacific Railway Act of 1862

Morrill Act (Land-Grant College Act), 1862

Ex parte Milligan, 1866

Speech of E.S. Dargan, in the Convention of Alabama, Jan. 11, 1861

Constitution of the Confederate States of America

Message of Governor Isham Harris to the Tennessee Assembly, Nashville, January 7, 1861

Declaration of Causes of Seceding States, 1861

Ordinances of Secession of the 13 Confederate States of America

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, 1863

FOR ADDITIONAL PRIMARY DOCUMENTS

Maps and Photos

The Dead of Antietam (jpg, 39.6)

Photo of a Drummer Boy of Shiloh (jpg, 113K)

Abraham Lincoln (jpg, 38K)

Young Abraham Lincoln (jpg, 62.1K)

Bull Run, Va. Federal cavalry at Sudley Ford (jpg, 101K)

Bull Run, Va. Matthews' or the Stone House (jpg, 101K)

Bull Run, Va. Ruins of Mrs. Judith Henry's house (jpg, 99.3K)

Bull Run, Va. Ruins of the stone bridge, looking upstream (jpg, 56.4K)

Bull Run, Va. Sudley Church (jpg, 99.4K)

Ambrose Everett Burnside (jpg, 49.9K)

Charleston, S.C. Fort Sumter, from the sand-bar (jpg, 75.4K)

Jefferson Davis (jpg, 50.3K)

Encampment at Cumberland Landing, Va. (Peninsula) (jpg, 43.5K)

First Bull Run, July 1861 (jpg, 75.6K)

Frederick Douglass (jpg, 63.4K)

Ulysses S. Grant (jpg, 57.7K)

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (jpg, 36.2K)

Harrison's Landing, Va. Group of the Irish Brigade (Peninsula) (jpg, 65.7K)

Joseph E. Johnston (jpg, 59.6K)

Robert E. Lee (jpg, 51.8K)

Major General John C. Fremont [Pictorial envelope] (jpg, 68K)

George Brinton McClellan (jpg, 51.2K)

George Gordon Meade (jpg, 43.7K)

Picket Station, Blackburn's Ford, Bull Run (jpg, 62.2K)

William S. Rosecrans (jpg, 54.4K)

S. A. Douglas (jpg, 53.8K)

S. A. Douglas [Pictorial envelope] (jpg, 47.4K)

S. A. Douglas 2 [Pictorial envelope] (jpg, 77.6K)

Winfield Scott (jpg, 68K)

William T. Sherman (jpg, 47.4K)

Sherman's Battery, as it appeared on its return from the Battle of Bull Run
(jpg, 50.3K)

The Peninsula, Va. Lt. George A. Custer with dog (jpg, 71.5K)

Clara Barton (jpg, 19.5K)

CSS Virginia (jpg, 78K)

USS Monitor (jpg, 55.4K)

Dorothea Lynde Dix (jpg, 20.4K)

General Irvin McDowell (jpg, 23.6K)

Clement L. Vallandigham (jpg, 10.1K)

Large Battle Maps
Note: These maps are large in size and memory allocation. Most are over 200k and will require several minutes to download with a modem.

1stBullRun (PD Map)

Antietam (PD Map)

Antietam 2 (PD Map)

Appomattox (PD Map)

Atlanta 1 (PD Map)

Atlanta 2 (PD Map)

Chattanooga 1 (PD Map)

Chickamauga (PD Map)

Coldhabor (PD Map)

Federal Movements during 64 and 65 (PD Map)

Fort Henry and Fort Donelson 1 (PD Map)

Fort Henry and Fort Donelson 2 (PD Map)