Introduction to U.S. History: The Civil War

This resource documents the war that transformed America, ended slavery, and unified the nation around the principles of freedom. The collection examines the war and all its complexity – its causes and consequences and its leaders and common soldiers, the home front, and the military campground, and more.

Included are a variety of primary source documents – personal narratives and memoirs, pamphlets and political speeches, sermons and songs, regimental histories and photograph albums, legal treatises, and children’s books—unveiling a time when friends were enemies, and the United States was torn in half. Every aspect of the Civil War is covered: military, diplomatic, cultural, and legal history as well as special areas of study, including Southern history, African American history, medical history, technology history, and more.

This resource requires a library card to use it.