American
Civil War Encyclopaedia
A comprehensive encyclopaedia of the American Civil War. Each
entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The
text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the
encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people
and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the
student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization,
etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on:
Civil
War Chronology, Famous
Battles, Political Figures, Military Leaders. Organizations, Events
and Issues,
Soldiers, Women & the Civil War, Writers, Artists and Photographers:,
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
American
Civil War: Dr. George H. Hoemann, assistant director for distance
education and independent study at the University of Tennessee, has
gathered together in one place hypertext links to the most useful
identified electronic files about the American Civil War. The page
opens a gateway to the Internet's multi-formatted resources about
what is arguably the seminal event in American history. Not only was
the War the occasion for the abolition of slavery, but by conflict's
end the re-United States had emerged as a modern, industrialized power.
The material is organised under the following headings: General Resources,
Secession Crisis, Images of Wartime, Biographical Information, Histories
and Bibliographies, Documentary Records, Local Studies, Battles &
Campaigns, Rosters & Regimental Histories, Civil War Reenactors
and Civil War Round Tables.
Abraham
Lincoln's Assassination
This excellent website provides a detailed account of Lincoln's assassination.
Sections include Lincoln's Assassin, Eyewitness to History, Conspiracy
Theories, The Military Commission and Picture Gallery. Produced by
Roger Norton, a teacher of American history for 28 years, the website
also includes a generous collection of links to other sources of information
on this important event.
US
Civil War Factbook: This website produced by Marcus Wendel includes
a chronology of the US Civil War, as well as information on casualties,
generals killed in battle, alternate names of the war, Confederate
States of America, reviews of books on the topic and a message forum
for discussions on the war.
Abraham
Lincoln Online: This website contains everything you will ever
want to know about Abraham Lincoln. Sections include News, Speeches,
Books, Places, Resources, Students, Discussion and Frequently Asked
Questions. An interesting feature is This Week in History that provides
information about Lincoln's life in the week you view the website.
There is also a Lincoln Quote of the Week.
American
Experience: Ulysses S. Grant: The greatest hero of the Civil War,
Grant was an ineffective president whose two terms in office were
rocked by racial conflict and corruption scandals. Funded by the National
Endowment for the Humanities, the Ulysses S. Grant website features
activities for children of all ages. You can use maps, video clips,
and text to determine your moves in "You're the General,"
an interactive game. You can also take a video tour of the Shiloh
battlefield with a National Park Service ranger and a group of eighth
graders from Michie, Tennessee.
American
Civil War: This comprehensive account of the American Civil War
is produced by Premier Internet. Sections include Timeline (9th February,
1861 to 4th May, 1865), Battles (chronological list), Documents (government
papers, diaries, letters) Places (battlefields, cemeteries, forts,
historic parks, monuments, museums), Music (recordings of civil war
music), Discussion Forum and Links.
American
Civil War Women: Ginny Daley has produced a directory website
on the lives and experiences of women during the American Civil War.
This includes diaries, letters, documents, photographs and prints
and features the writings of Alice Williamson, Rose O'Neal Greenhow,
Rachael Cormany, Carrie Berry, Catharine Hunsecker, Alansa Rounds
Sterrett and Nancy Emerson.
Assassination
of Abraham Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as America's
16th President just before the Civil War began. His life was ended
by an assassin's bullet five days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered.
This website, produced by Carole Bos, provides a clear account of
the story. Chapter titles include: Assassination Plots, Warnings and
Omens, Dreams of Death, To Kidnap a President, The Worst, Where were
the Bodyguards?, No Hope, A Foiled Plot, Multiple Funerals, Booth's
Capture and Death, Conspiracy Trial, Execution, Rest of the Story
and the Last Word.
Andersonville:
During the
early stages of the American Civil War the federal government refused
to negotiate the exchange of prisoners as it did not recognize the
Confederacy as a nation. In July, 1862, General John Dix of the Union
Army and General D. H. Hill met and agreed an exchange. They decided
that the rate of exchange was one general for every 60 enlisted men,
a colonel for 15, a lieutenant for 4 and a sergeant for 2. When Ulysses
S. Grant became overall commander of the Union Army he brought an
end to exchanges. Grant's decision resulted in a rapid increase in
the number of prisoners and so it was decided to build Andersonville
Prison in Georgia.
It was to be the Confederate's largest prison for captured soldiers.
By August, 1864, there were 32,000 Union Army prisoners in Andersonville.
The Confederate authorities did not provide enough food for the prison
and of the 49,485 prisoners who entered the camp, nearly 13,000 died
from disease and malnutrition. This website provides an overview of
the tragedy and includes several first-hand accounts of life in Andersonville.
Civil
War Surgical Antiques:
The heyday of American-made surgical instruments was from the 1840's
to the 1890's and centered in the New York and Philadelphia areas.
Prior to that time, most surgical instruments were made in Europe
and imported to this country. Pre-1870 instruments were typically
presented and sold in wood cases which were lined with velvet or a
similar material. 1870 is when sterilization began and cased sets
changed drastically afterwards to allow for sterilization of the various
parts of the instruments. After 1880, the handles of the instruments
were in general no longer made of ivory, wood, or other porous materials
that could not stand chemical and heat treatments, thus the trend
to use all metal instruments after that point. This website displayed
are examples of amputation and surgical sets by some of the most famous
American makers of the time. Of particular interest are those used
in the Civil War.
Major
Sullivan Ballou: People world wide are touched by the tenderness
that reaches out across 150 years in the farewell love letter that
Major Sullivan Ballou wrote to his wife during the American Civil
War. Major Ballou was a volunteer soldier who served in the Second
Rhode Island Regiment of the Union Army. Prior to the war he was an
attorney and a rising politician in his native state, a doting father
to two young sons and a husband in love with his young wife. On duty
near Washington D.C., he had a premonition that he would not survive
the next battle. He wrote his family how much he loved them and promised
to look after them from the afterlife, where he hoped to be reunited
with them one day. He was mortally wounded in that battle and died
a week later, never seeing them again. The website tells some of their
story.
Civil
War Zone: This website is organized under the following headings:
Battle Orders (a collection of notable battles and campaigns fought
during the Civil War), Biographies (brief biographies of the most
distinguished generals
of the Civil War), Chronology (a compilation of various noteworthy
historical events listed in a day by day format), Documents (a collection
of famous writings and speeches including such documents as the Gettysburg
Address and the Emancipation Proclamation) and Songs (lyrics from
songs from Union and Confederate Camps).
Sherman’s
March: Final Revenge: They say that history is written by the
victors. This is one small, yet significant, piece of America's Civil
War history that the victors would have preferred not to have been
told. It is not a story of glorious battles and thousands of dead
and wounded on bloody fields of valor. It is the story of how in times
of war horrendous and militarily unjustified things can happen to
defenseless civilians and private property. February
17, 1865, is singularly the most important day in the history of South
Carolina and Columbia, the state’s capital. The
first hand accounts of soldiers and civilians, who were part of this
tragedy, paint a clear picture of events and motivations unfettered
by historical interpretation and explanations.
Civil
War in Miniature: A collection of quizzes on the American Civil
War. Subjects covered include Battles and Strategies, Cavalry, Robert
E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson, Southern Confederacy,
General James Longstreet, General Lee's Lieutenants, Tough Men and
Tough Women, Person, Place or Things. The website also contains a
good chronology, information on the contribution made by individual
states and an excellent section on Civil War terms.
Letters
Home: These letters are part of a collection written by Newton
Robert Scott of the 36th Infantry, Iowa Volunteers. Most of the letters
were written to Scott's neighbourhood friend Hannah Cone, in their
home town of Albia, Monroe County, Iowa, over the three year period
that he served as Company A's clerk. Scott's letters to Hannah are
filled with rich details of the war and the living conditions in the
Union camps in Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa and Arkansas.
Abraham
Lincoln Papers: The complete Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library
of Congress consists of approximately 20,000 documents. The collection
is organized into three "General Correspondence" series
which include incoming and outgoing correspondence and enclosures,
drafts of speeches, and notes and printed material. Most of the 20,000
items are from the 1850s through Lincoln's presidential years, 1860-65.
Treasures include Lincoln's draft of the Emancipation Proclamation,
his March 4, 1865, draft of his second Inaugural Address, and his
August 23, 1864, memorandum expressing his expectation of being defeated
for re-election in the upcoming presidential contest. The Lincoln
Papers are characterized by a large number of correspondents, including
friends and associates from Lincoln's Springfield days, well-known
political figures and reformers, and local people and organizations
writing to their president.
Civil
War Photographs: Over 1,000 Civil War Images, Photographs and
Cartes de Visites including Army Life, United States and Confederate
Government Officers, Union and Confederate Generals and Soldiers,
Civilians, Battle Field Photos, Casualties, Infantry Units, Cavalry
Units, Artillery Units, Engineering Units, Navy Units and Vessels,
Prisoners, Hospitals and Doctors, Factories, Quartermaster and Lincoln
Assassination Conspirators.
Robert
E. Lee Historical Preservation Site:
Robert E. Lee is one of the most interesting characters of American
history. He opposed the Civil War, yet was offered command of the
Union and the Confederate armies. He opposed slavery, but ended up
commanding the Confederate army. History will remember him as one
of the world’s most significant military figures, yet he spent
the last years of his life as an educator, turning down lucrative
business opportunities resulting from his notoriety. Robert E. Lee
personified the ideals of Duty, Honor, and Country, yet was a pivotal
figure in a war that almost destroyed the Nation.
Calvin
Shedd and the American Civil War: Calvin Shedd, a carpenter from
New Hampshire, enlisted in the Seventh Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers
and served the Union Army during the Civil War from 1862 - 1863. During
this period Shedd wrote 53 letters to his wife and three young daughters
about military life in Key West, Fort Jefferson and St. Augustine,
Florida. These documents convey the extraordinary circumstances that
life in the Union Army offered one New Hampshire solider during the
early years of the Civil War. The website includes a biography of
Shedd and photographs of people mentioned in the text.
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