Research Guides: *United States History American History: Civil War

Bates Special Collections

Guide to the Uriah and Anne Balkam letters, 1849-1877
Uriah Balkam served as a Chaplain with the Maine 16th volunteers.
Guide to the Hanford Civil War letters, 1862-1865
Most written by four serving in the 144th New York Volunteer Infantry.
Guide to the Wentworth Adams family papers, 1803-1966, n.d.
Includes letters of Edwin Oberlin Wentworth, an itinerant printer and Civil War soldier.
Guide to the Office of the President, Oren Burbank Cheney records, 1857-1902
Cheney was the first president of Bates College. Includes a diary, as well as correspondence documenting his efforts to raise money during the Civil War.
Collections Containing Materials Related to Military Conflict and Veterans at Muskie Archives

Free Will Baptist Sources

Freewill Baptists were abolitionists. Some of their materials held in the in the Library or in Special Collections contain information relating to their beliefs and activities during the War concerning slavery and its abolition.

Morning Star (1826-1911)
Most important Freewill newspaper; on microfilm in the Library.
Freewill Baptist Quarterly (1853-1904)
Periodical containing essays, sermons, and writings on issues.Special Collections BAPTIST BX 6370.F6

Background Info

The American Civil War by Steven E. Woodworth
Location: Bates Reference Z1242 .A47 1996
Maine in the Civil War: A Bibliographical Guide
Location: Reference E511 .M356 2014
Published: 2014
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War by William L. Barney
Location: Online.
Published: 2011
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War
Location: Bates Reference E468 .H47 2000
Women and the American Civil War by Theresa McDevitt
Location: Bates Reference Z1242 .M355 2003
The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine
Location: Online.
Published: 2008
Civil War Eyewitnesses by Garold Cole
Location: Bates Reference Z1242 .C78

Letters and diaries

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Online full-text of letters, diaries, and memoirs.

Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
Ulysses S. Grant Collection
Includes the The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, correspondence, and photographs.
Papers of Jefferson Davis
E467.1 .D2596.
Manuscripts of the American Civil War: Diaries and Journals
Seven soldier’s diaries from both sides of the war.
Civil War Letters and Diaries
Civil War Diaries and Letters
Civil War Eyewitnesses
Annotated bibliographies of published first-hand accounts of the war. Bates Reference Z1242 .C78

Find resources published in book form in Ladd Library:

Newspapers and magazines

America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Limit by Dates and Eras > Eras in American History > U.S. Civil War.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Digitized newspapers, including the Civil War era. Limit by date, state, or newspaper title.
New York Times (1851-2018) This link opens in a new window
Scanned issues, including images and advertisements.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1841–1955)

Making of America Journals (Cornell) This link opens in a new window
American periodicals; Civil War era covered by Atlantic Monthly, Continental Monthly, Harper's New Monthly, New Englander, North American Review, Old Guard, Putnam's Monthly, and Scientific American.
Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
Includes New York Observer and Chronicle, Old Guard, and a number of abolitionist periodicals.
Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new window
Includes Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1850-1900

Richmond Dispatch (1855-1875)
Virginia newspaper featuring pro-slavery editorials. On microfilm and online via Chronicling America.
National Intelligencer (1800-1870)
Microfilm covers more years than America's Historical Newspaper, which only covers 1800-1833
New York Tribune (1841-1896)
Horace Greeley's newspaper, which "opposed liquor, tobacco, gambling, prostitution, and capital punishment, while actively promoting the anti-slavery cause." On microfilm.
Harper's Weekly
Some issues of Harper's Weekly are available via HathiTrust, including most years in the 1860s and 1880s. Civil War era issues are also available via the Lee Foundation.

Official Documents

War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Also known as the Official Records, these are military reports and correspondence from both sides of the conflict, and available in several locations:
Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of South Carolina
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1970. These contain letters and reports of conditions involving freed slaves just after the war. Microfilm E 185.93S7 U5
Registers and letters received by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872
Microfilm E185.93.S7 U5 1973
Digital Records of the Colored Conventions Project!
Hundreds of collected documents of the Colored Conventions movement, spanning from the 1830s through the 1890s.
Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War
Facsimile of the 1870 publication by the U.S. Surgeon General. Bates Library E 621.U59. Searchable online version available via HathiTrust.
Documents of the U.S. Sanitary Commission
Southern Historical Society Papers
Includes personal recollections by Southerners as well as official battle reports.
A Documentary History of the American Civil War Era
Collection of public policy actions, political speeches, and judicial decisions.

Images

Pictures of the Civil War
Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner photographs, organized by topic. From the National Archives.
Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints
7,000 portraits and battleground images, from the Library of Congress.

Find resources published in book form in CBBcat:

Pictorial works [collections of images]

By Topic

African Americans and the Civil War

Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation
Multi-volume print collection of primary sources on the destruction of slavery, the black military experience, and freedmen labor relations. Selected documents available online.
African American Odyssey
Black Soldiers in the Civil War

African American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Black newspapers. Publication dates: 1827-1998

*United States History American History

Bates Special Collections

Free Will Baptist Sources

Background Info

Letters and diaries

Newspapers and magazines

Official Documents

Images

By Topic

African Americans and the Civil War

African Americans and the Civil War

Maine and the Civil War

General