Books

James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era.
A thorough exploration of the causes of the Civil War.

David Donald, Lincoln (1996)
This definitive biography of the sixteenth president, which traces Lincoln's life from his birth in rural Kentucky through his presidency, examines his private and public lives, his attitudes toward slavery, his legal and political careers, and his wartime leadership.

Joseph Glatthaar, Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers (2000)
A thorough examination of one of the keys to Northern victory in the Civil War--the 180,000 enlisted African-Americans who fought for the Union army.

Richard E. Beringer et al., Why the South Lost the Civil War (1991)
A thorough assessment of the various factors cited to explain the Confederate defeat, including economic weaknesses, disputes over states rights, inadequate political leadership, and flawed military strategy.

Gabor Borrit, Why the Confederacy Lost (1993)
This book emphasizes the role of generalship, battlefield tactics, and military strategy in the outcome of the war.

Interviews with leading authorities on the Civil War era. James McPherson:
	http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2000-03/mcphersonconversation.html http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/mc1-m19.shtml http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/mc2-m20.shtml http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/mc3-m21.shtml http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1200
Prelude To Civil War
	Bleeding Kansas http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/cgiwrap/imlskto/index.php Books, diaries, autobiographies, and letters documenting the struggle over slavery in territorial Kansas. John Brown’s Holy War http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/brown/index.html The companion site to PBS’s American Experience broadcast contains a timeline, maps, glossary, and historical overviews on a variety of topics related to John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. 19th Century Documents http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/19th.htm The full text of the Fugitive Slave Act, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and other important antebellum political documents. Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/utc/ Texts, images, songs, 3-D objects, and film clips relating to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abraham Lincoln
	Abraham Lincoln Online http://www.netins.net/showcase/creative/lincoln.html The 16th President’s speeches, writings, and images. The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrintr.html This Library of Congress site provides a variety of visual images to document the assassination of the nation’s 16th President. Mr. Lincoln’s White House http://mrlincolnswhitehouse.org This site profiles six family members, 16 Cabinet officers and Vice Presidents, 21 Generals, 17 members of Congress, 18 staff members, and over two dozen other visitors. Racial Satire and the Civil War: Case Study--Abraham Lincoln http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/scartoons/cartoons.html This site traces the development of racial caricature in American political cartoons during the mid-19th century. Rhetoric of Freedom http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/freedom.htm Articles from The Atlantic magazine from the 1860s onward dealing with Lincoln’s public speeches. Subscription only.
Civil War
	Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/chronol.htm A chronology listing important events in the history of emancipation during the Civil War. The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/index.html This is a computerized database containing very basic facts about servicemen who served on both sides during the Civil War; a list of regiments in both the Union and Confederate Armies; identifications and descriptions of 384 significant battles of the war. Civil War Women http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/collections/civil-war-women.html The Duke University Library has made Civil War era diaries available online, which bring women’s wartime experience to life. The Fight For Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/ This National Archives site uses original documents to describe the struggles of black soldiers to defeat slavery and to win equal rights within the Union Army. Poetry and Music of the War Between the States http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/ A collection of songs and poems from supporters of the Union and the Confederacy. Selected Civil War Photographs http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html This collection of over a thousand photographs from the Library of Congress includes military personnel, preparations for battle, battle after-effects, portraits of both Confederate and Union officers, politicians, cultural figures, and a selection of enlisted men. The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865 http://metalab.unc.edu/docsouth/imls/index.html A collection of official documents, private correspondence, and pamphlets that focuses on Confederate life behind the battlelines. Time Line of the Civil War http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/ An interactive, illustrated time line of the major political, military, and social events that occurred during the Civil War.
African Americans and the Civil War
	Toward Racial Equality: Harper's Weekly Reports on Black America, 1857-1874." http://blackhistory.harpweek.com Articles, illustrations, and cartoons from Harper’s Weekly dealing with slavery and emancipation from the late 1850s into Reconstruction.
Historiography
	Richard Jensen: Civil War Historiography http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/historiography/civilwar.htm A succinct summary of the war’s causes; the two sides’ goals, strengths, weaknesses, and strategies; and the major battles.
Lesson Plans
	Not Just a Man’s War: Women in the American Civil War, 1861-65 http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/manswar/ Classroom activities, focusing on women’s experience during the Civil War, appropriate for students of a variety of ages and ability levels that draw upon resources available on the World Wide Web and upon primary source documents.