Civil War Primary Sources
A selection of books from Booth Library
The page linked here: "Civil War Primary Sources" provides description and links to many sources of primary sources available on the Web.
The Civil War Diary of Gideon Welles, Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy by
Gideon Welles's 1861 appointment as secretary of the navy placed him at the hub of Union planning for the Civil War and in the midst of the powerful personalities vying for influence in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. Although Welles initially knew little of naval matters, he rebuilt a service depleted by Confederate defections, planned actions that gave the Union badly needed victories in the war's early days, and oversaw a blockade that weakened the South's economy. Perhaps the hardest-working member of the cabinet, Welles still found time to keep a detailed diary that has become one of the key documents for understanding the inner workings of the Lincoln administration. In this new edition, William E. and Erica L. Gienapp have restored Welles's original observations, gleaned from the manuscript diaries at the Library of Congress and freed from his many later revisions, so that the reader can experience what he wrote in the moment. With his vitriolic pen, Welles captures the bitter disputes over strategy and war aims, lacerates colleagues from Secretary of State William H. Seward to General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, and condemns the actions of the self-serving southern elite he sees as responsible for the war. He just as easily waxes eloquent about the Navy's wartime achievements, extols the virtues of Lincoln, and drops in a tidbit of Washington gossip. Carefully edited and extensively annotated, this edition contains a wealth of supplementary material. The appendixes include short biographies of the members of Lincoln's cabinet, the retrospective Welles wrote after leaving office covering the period missing from the diary proper, and important letters regarding naval matters and international law.
Call Number: E467.1.W46 A3 2014bISBN: 9780252038525Publication Date: 2014
Illinois's war : the Civil War in documents by
On the eve of the Civil War and after, Illinois was one of the most significant states in the Union. Its history is, in many respects, the history of the Union writ large: its political leaders figured centrally in the war's origins, progress, and legacies; and its diverse residents made sacrifices and contributions--both on the battlefield and on the home front--that proved essential to Union victory. The documents in Illinois's War reveal how the state and its people came to assume such a prominent role in this nation's greatest conflict. In these crucial decades Illinois experienced its astonishing rise from rural frontier to economic and political powerhouse. But also in these years Illinois was, like the nation itself, a "house divided" over the expansion of slavery, the place of blacks in society, and the policies of the federal government both during and after the Civil War. Illinois's War illuminates these conflicts in sharp relief, as well as the ways in which Illinoisans united in both saving the Union and transforming their state. Through the firsthand accounts of men and women who experienced these tumultuous decades, Illinois's War presents the dramatic story of the Prairie State's pivotal role in the sectional crisis, as well as the many ways in which the Civil War era altered the destiny of Illinois and its citizens. Illinois's War is the first book-length history of the state during the Civil War years since Victor Hicken's Illinois in the Civil War, first published in 1966. Mark Hubbard has compiled a rich collection of letters, editorials, speeches, organizational records, diaries, and memoirs from farmers and workers, men and women, free blacks and runaway slaves, native-born and foreign-born, common soldiers and decorated generals, state and nationally recognized political leaders. The book presents fresh details of Illinois's history during the Civil War era, and reflects the latest interpretations and evidence on the state's social and political development.
Call Number: E505 .I46 2013ISBN: 9780821420102Publication Date: 2013
Memoirs of a soldier, nurse, and spy : a woman's adventures in the Union Army by
Among the hundreds of women who, in disguise, enlisted to serve as men in the Union army, only Sarah Edmonds is known to have written a memoir recounting her experiences. As Franklin Thompson she joined the 2nd Michigan Infantry Regiment in 1861, then fought in and witnessed some of the bloodiest struggles of the Civil War - from Blackburn's Ford and First Bull Run, through the Peninsula campaign with McClellan's Army of the Potomac, the battle of Fredericksburg, and then to the Kentucky campaign in 1863.
Call Number: E628 .E36 1999ISBN: 0875802591Publication Date: 1999
The slaves' war : the Civil War in the words of former slaves by
The first narrative history of the Civil War told by the very people it freed Groundbreaking, compelling, and poignant, The Slaves' War delivers an unprecedented vision of the nation's bloodiest conflict. An acclaimed historian of nineteenth-century and African-American history, Andrew Ward gives us the first narrative of the Civil War told from the perspective of those whose destiny it decided. Woven together from hundreds of interviews, diaries, letters, and memoirs, here is the Civil War as seen from not only battlefields, capitals, and camps, but alsoslave quarters, kitchens, roadsides, farms, towns, and swamps. Speaking in a quintessentially American language of wit, candor, and biblical power, army cooks and launderers, runaways, teamsters, and gravediggers bring the war to vivid life. From slaves' theories about the causes of the war to their frank assessments of such major figures as Lincoln, Davis, Lee, and Grant; from their searing memories of the carnage of battle to their often startling attitudes toward masters and liberators alike; and from their initial jubilation at the Yankee invasion of the slave South to the crushing disappointment of freedom's promise unfulfilled, The Slaves' War is a transformative and engrossing vision of America's Second Revolution.
Call Number: E464 .W29 2008ISBN: 9780618634002Publication Date: 2008
Primary Sources
Primary Sources
Primary sources are contemporary documents that are associated with the historical event. Examples of primary sources include diaries, letters, magazine and newspaper articles, court hearings, and government documents.
For a more in-depth explanation and further examples, visit the guide listed below.
To find primary sources in print search the EIU Library Catalog.
Examples of primary sources in the Booth Library collection are:
Booth also has several historical newspaper and magazine databases that provide access to primary sources.
- History DatabasesLists all databases relevant to doing research in History available at Booth Library
- Newspaper DatabasesLists all newspaper databases accessible from Booth Library
These historical newspaper and magazine databases are useful for primary source research
- New York Times (Historical) This link opens in a new windowFull text articles and scanned image page-views for this national newspaper | 1851-2019
- Chicago Tribune (Historical) This link opens in a new windowFull text and images for the Chicago Tribune | 1849-1997
- Times (London) Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new windowFull-text Articles | 1785-2019
- Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals This link opens in a new windowPrimary source articles from 19th-century British periodicals | Events, lives, values, and themes that shaped the British Empire and the 19th-century world | Includes Series I (New Readerships) and Series II (Empire)
- African American Newspapers: The 19th Century This link opens in a new windowCollection of 11 different African-American Newspapers in full text / PDF | The Christian Recorder, The Colored American, Frederick Douglass’ Paper, The Freedmen’s Record, Frederick Douglass Monthly, Freedom’s Journal, The National Era, The Negro Business League Herald, The North Star, Provincial Freeman | Weekly Advocate
- American Periodicals This link opens in a new windowFull text and images from historical magazines | Topics include American independence, general interest, children's publications, journal articles for women, and the Civil War | 1740s - early 1900s
- Pennsylvania Gazette 1728-1815 This link opens in a new windowPublished in Philadelphia from 1728 through the early 1800s | Benjamin Franklin`s Newspaper | Firsthand View of Colonial America
