LibGuides: U.S. History: Civil War

Recommended Databases

City Point, Virginia. African American soldier stands guard. Civil war photographs, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
1855 - 1875. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly (until completed). Includes approximately 100,000 pages of published memoirs, letters and diaries from individuals plus 4,000 pages of previously unpublished materials. Drawn from more than 1,000 sources, the collection provides in-depth coverage of all aspects of the war. More than 1,000 biographies will enhance the use of the database.
Civil War: Part I: A Newspaper Perspective This link opens in a new window
1860 - 1865. Unlimited users.
Provides full text access to selected articles published between November 1, 1860 and April 15, 1865 from The New York Herald, The Charleston Mercury and the Richmond Enquirer. Begins with the events preceding the outbreak of war at Fort Sumter, continues through the surrender at Appomattox, and concludes with the assassination and funeral of Abraham Lincoln. Since the major events are described in detail by both Union and Confederate papers, their opposing perspectives are readily available for comparative evaluation. Includes descriptive news articles, eye-witness accounts and official reports of battles and events, editorials, advertisements and biographies as well as other topics of the day.
Confederate Military Manuscripts and Records of Union Generals and the Union Army This link opens in a new window
1861 - 1865. Unlimited users.
The collections in the Confederate Military Manuscripts cover the perspective of an army commander or an administrative department down to the level of the private soldier, covering all aspects of their military service and experience, while also offering glimpses of life on the home front. Several previously unpublished collections of records of the Union Army are also integral to this module. Highlights include papers of spies, scouts, guides and detectives, including a series on Allan Pinkerton; records on military discipline from courts-martial, courts of inquiry and investigations by military commissions; and records of the U.S. Colored Troops.
Images of the American Civil War This link opens in a new window
Dates of coverage vary. Unlimited users.
Updated quarterly (until completed). Presents 50,000 contemporaneous photographs, including nearly 30,000 wartime recruiting posters, envelopes, and ephemera. Find and view images covering casualties, home life, prisons, hospitals, weaponry, transportation, political and military leaders, and more. Search for images associated with a particular battle or campaign; find images by place, photographer, or publisher; or locate pictures by setting (interior, exterior, or studio photographs). Additional material continues to be added to the collection.
Access to this resource is funded by the Littlefield Fund for Southern History.
Plantations Records (Part II): Records of Southern Plantations From Emancipation To The Great Migration This link opens in a new window
1863 - 1915. Unlimited users.
- Series B: Selections from the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LouisianaState University Libraries:
  - Part 1: Louisiana Sugar Plantations
  - Part 2: Louisiana Cotton Plantations
  - Part 3: Louisiana Sugar Plantations (BayouLafourche and Bayou Teche)
  - Part 4: Mississippi Cotton Plantations
  - Part 5: Albert Batchelor Papers
  - Part 6: Weeks Family Papers
- Series C: Selections from the South CarolinaLibrary, University of South Carolina:
  - Part 1: The Hammond Family Papers
  - Part 2: Selected Collections
Slavery and the Law This link opens in a new window
1777 - 1867. Unlimited users.
Slavery and the Law is a collection of archival primary sources.
Series I: Petitions to State Legislatures offers access to important but virtually unused primary source materials that were scattered in state archives of Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The collection includes virtually all extant legislative petitions on the subject of race and slavery.
Series II: Petitions to Southern County Courts were collected from local courthouses, and candidly document the realities of slavery at the most immediate grassroots level in southern society. It was at county courthouses where the vast majority of disputes over the institution of slavery were referred.
Slavery and the Law also includes State Slavery Statutes, a master record of the laws governing American slavery, covering 1789–1865.

Open Access Resources

Arkansas in the Civil War - Online access to a portion of the materials at the Butler Center related to Arkansas's involvement in the Civil War.

Civil War Collection at Michigan State University - Online collection of scanned letters, newspaper articles, images, photographs, diaries, and more, focusing on the experiences of Michigan soldiers.

Civil War Diaries and Letters - Scanned diaries and letters from the University of Iowa Libraries, some of which have been transcribed.

Civil War Diaries and Letters Collections - Diaries and letters covering both sides of the war, all of which have been scanned and transcribed.

Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints - About 7,000 different views and portraits made during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and its immediate aftermath

Civil War in america from the Illustrated London News -Selections of hundreds of articles from the magazine published between 1861 and 1865

Civil War Maps -A composite of three collections from the Library of Congress, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Library of Virginia that includes nearly 3000 maps.

Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1855-1865 -A collection of letters, photographs, and diary entries that document the Kansas-Missouri border war.

Civil War Washington-A digital history project that allows users to study, visualize, and theorize the complex changes in the city of Washington, DC between 1860 and 1865 through a collection of datasets, images, texts, and maps.

Confederate Broadsides - digitized collection of over 250 Confederate broadside poems

Crisis of the Union - Archive of documents about the causes, conduct, and consequences of the war

Mapping Occupation - This digital history project provides insight into the role of the U.S. Army in the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Pennsylvania Civil War Deserters Database - Includes physical (height, weight), military (rank, enlistment date) and demographic (birthplace, ethnicity, occupation) information for Pennsylvania soldiers who enlisted in the Union army and subsequently were cited as deserters.

South Carolina and the Civil War - Primary sources by eyewitnesses form the holdings of the University of South Carolina.

Thomas Winston Papers 1854-1927 - This collection of documents relating to Winston's work as a surgeon for Illinois troops includes biographical materials, case histories, lists of medical supplies, and various documents related to soldiers.

Wisconsin in the Civil War - More than 20,000 original documents including diaries, letters, newspaper articles, photographs and more

Plantation Records

Plantations Records (Part II): Records of Southern Plantations From Emancipation To The Great Migration This link opens in a new window
1863 - 1915. Unlimited users.
- Series B: Selections from the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LouisianaState University Libraries:
  - Part 1: Louisiana Sugar Plantations
  - Part 2: Louisiana Cotton Plantations
  - Part 3: Louisiana Sugar Plantations (BayouLafourche and Bayou Teche)
  - Part 4: Mississippi Cotton Plantations
  - Part 5: Albert Batchelor Papers
  - Part 6: Weeks Family Papers
- Series C: Selections from the South CarolinaLibrary, University of South Carolina:
  - Part 1: The Hammond Family Papers
  - Part 2: Selected Collections
Plantations Records (Part I): Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations From The Revolution Through The Civil War This link opens in a new window
1775 - 1865. Unlimited users.
- Series A: Selections from the South Carolina Library, University of South Carolina:
  - Part 1: The Papers of James Henry Hammond, 1795–1865
  - Part 2: Miscellaneous Collections
- Series D: Selections from the Maryland Historical Society
- Series H: Tulane and Louisiana State Museum
- Series I: Selections from LouisianaState University:
  - Part 1: Louisiana Sugar Plantations
  - Part 2: Louisiana and Miscellaneous Southern Cotton Plantations
  - Part 3: The Natchez Area
  - Part 4: Barrow, Bisland, Bowman, and Other Collections
  - Part 5: Butler Family Collections
  - Part 6: David Weeks and Family Collection
- Series M: Selections from the VirginiaHistorical Society