When it comes to the U.S. Civil War, there are those who still hear the sound of the guns. On-line, they can connect, so to speak, to those who heard them first-hand like Union soldier Sullivan Ballou, who wrote to his wife, saying, "I will always be near you. . . . if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by." He was killed in action a week later. The events of 1861-65 defined the American nation, and the Web is a rich trove of its history. Some of it is of scholarly interest, like the constitution of the Confederate States of America. Some of it is agonizingly personal, like the letter above, and some sites have an attraction that's perhaps too deep for easy examination, such as scanned images on which you can see, handwritten on lined paper, Lincoln's original draft of the Gettysburg Address. Still other sites are dedicated to preservationists and reenactment.
Today, the physical legacy of the Civil War is largely in the hands of the U.S. National Park Service, which owns many of the battlefields and relics. The National Parks Service Links to the Past is the place to find a large amount of data concerning the battlefields and the history behind them. Some of it is of historical interest, some of preservationist interest.
The best effort among the growing list of NPS sites is Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, which is on par with the Valley of the Shadow site. There's a very detailed description of Stonewall Jackson's legendary Valley Campaign, plus later Valley operations, and preservation information about the battlefields.You'll find detailed population and farm acreage statistics; data central to understanding pre-modern military operations, since armies often lived off the land. Some map links are under construction.
The main strength of the overall NPS site is the wealth of background data you can find through the Civil War Sites Advisory Committee Battle Descriptions, which cataloged 10,500 Civil War collisions and selected 384 principal battlefields. You can search the list by state of campaign and get a comprehensive description of each battle, with all the available
statistics, plus preservationist information about the battlefield. Even the most avid historian can find surprises and treats here. See for yourself why a battle was fought in Idaho.
Another pioneering NPS effort is the Antietam National Battlefield, which offers various map formats (contour, elevation, building, hydrological, and others) of the battlefield.
As you'd expect, the Library of Congress has The Gettysburg Address, the real thing, in JPEG images of four sheets of brownish paper bearing handwritten text, just as it looked when Lincoln took it out of his pocket, unfolded it, and read it. Zoom in the resolution and you can make out the creases.
The Library of Congress's Time Line, The Civil War, 1861-1865 lists battles and political events in chronological order, with links to sometimes lengthy lists of JPEG photos. You'll also find hospitals, ships, and officer portraits.
Bryan Boyle's Bronx Bulletin Board is the grand-daddy of the hobby sites with Civil War links.Not only does he list links, but he offers a wealth of original material on-site. It's more worthwhile than some of the institutional sites. Check out The American Civil War, 1861-1865 World Wide Web Information Archive.
Boyle's site includes the order of battle for major engagements, although without strength of condition information, a collection of five full-text regimental histories; information about reenactment groups, and the Sullivan Ballou letter above. Other material not seen elsewhere includes text (via the Gutenberg Project) of the Red Badge of Courage, The Life of Frederick Douglas, Douglas' My Escape From Slavery, and
Lincoln's first and second inaugural addresses. There's also Hardee's drill manual (used by both sides), various collections of letters, and scads of other material.
We found a chronological list of actions and campaigns that starts with a ship-to-shore artillery duel in Virginia on May 19, 1861, and ends at Palmeto Ranch, Texas (a Confederate victory!) on May 13, 1865. This site is valuable for keeping the actions in order and in perspective.
The 19th Alabama Infantry Regiment, Army of Tennessee, C.S.A. is a reenactment group's Web site. It offers a great deal of primary material concerning the original 19th Alabama. (It had 76 original members left in the ranks at the time of the surrender: a 92 percent attrition rate.) You'll find photos, burial places, and other data on some members, plus collected letters.
Letters from an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War collects the writings of Newton Robert Scott, Private, Company A, 36th Infantry, Iowa Volunteers, to his neighbor, Hannah Cone, back in Monroe County, Iowa. Newton's sweetheart runs off with someone else. After the war he returns home, marries Ms. Cone, and has ten kids.
The United States Civil War Center had little original material when we visited it, but shows promise. It's a two-year-old foundation at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge endowed for the purpose of promoting scholarly study of the war using new methodologies and approaches. As it develops, this site will take you beyond the regurgitated memoirs, written decades after the war to score points in personal feuds.
The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System is an effort to get the National Archives service records of 5.4 million Civil War soldiers op-line, using volunteer keyboarders. Once it's completed, you'll be able to estimate force composition and casualty rates by probing the individual service careers and fates of massive numbers of individuals. You'll also find some good links to other Civil War sites and information on what the Park Service is up to.
The African American Civil War Memorial site describes the memorial and its progress, and the effort to get the names of all 185,000 U.S. Colored Troops for incision on the memorial, scheduled for completion by the end of 1995.
The African American Sailors in the Civil War Navy Research Project is a massive piece of detective work reaching back more than a century in an effort to identify African-Americans who served in the navy during the Civil War for inclusion in the African-American Civil War Memorial.
The 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry is a regimental history that includes collected letters from members and material about Ohio during the Civil War.
This hobby site, presents the details and the far-ranging history of the blockade and subsequent battle of Mobile Bay, including the wreck of the USS Tecumseh.
The Eighth Illinois Volunteers site is not exactly a regimental history; it details movements of the named regiment, and offers material from diaries of several members.
Gov. Oliver P. Morton's Telegraph Books are the telegraph logs of the governor of Indiana during the war. He was in constant touch with everyone who mattered and probably didn't need CNN. While you can search the logs by subject, the telegrams themselves are not on-line: They have to be fetched for you by the staff of the Indiana State Archives.
The USS Monitor on CD-ROM is a sneak preview of an upcoming product, showing original drawings and modern photos of the wreck. The CD-ROM will offer a virtual reality walk-through of the turret.
The Tulane University Manuscripts Department offers collected Civil War material for serious scholars at http://www.tulane.edu/~lmiller/ManuscriptsHome.html. Very little is on-line, but the home page does display the scanned image of a telegram from Stonewall Jackson to his wife, dated May 6, 1862. "Yesterday God crowned our arms with success. The Enemy is retreating."
The American Civil War Homepage is a hobby page with a great collection of Civil War links.
From Revolution to Reconstruction is a chapter from a history textbook. It offers a tidy if simplified overview of the war. . .as seen from Holland.
The Civil War Photographic Gallery is the promotional site for a commercial photo service (Carole Thompson Fine Photographs) that sells reprints of Civil War photos made by Alexander Gardner. Six are posted for downloading, including the Gettysburg "Harvest of Death" view.
The University of Kansas' American Civil War offers the usual links to other sites, but adds some Kansas-specific material, such as coverage of the Lawrence Massacre.
National Civil War Association is an historical reenactment organization based in northern California. It offers a collection of Civil War history links and a good set of links for reenactment hobbyists, too.
by Lamont Wood