The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries

This collection contains 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs. Particular care has been taken to index this material so it can be searched more thoroughly than ever. Each source has been carefully chosen using leading bibliographies. The product includes 4,000 pages of previously unpublished manuscripts such as the letters of Amos Wood and his wife and the diary of Maryland Planter William Claytor. The collection also includes biographies, an extensive bibliography of the sources in the database, and material licensed from The Civil War Day-by-Day by E.B. Long.

Featured Content

Emancipation Proclamation

Browse the reactions and opinions of Americans in the wake of Abraham Lincoln's September 1862 declaration of freedom to all slaves in the Confederacy if the states refused to surrender to Union control by January 1st 1863.

The Battle Of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought between July 1-3, 1863 in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle began with General Robert E. Lee leading his army to invade the North after his pervious success in the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. General Lee ended up losing in Gettysburg in a battle that involved that largest number of causalities in the entire war and is also described as the war’s turning point. Read through the first-hand accounts referencing the Confederate attack at Gettysburg.