For additional materials in Pollak Library, search the Library Catalog by the following Subjects.
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United States History Civil War 1861 1865 Sources
United States Politics and Government 1861 1865
Confederate States of America History Sources

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, please ask at the Government Documents Desk (3rd Floor North) or Reference Desk (1st Floor North).

Encyclopedias  -- First Floor North    top

Atlas of the Civil War (2004)
REFERENCE E468 .W754 2004   

The Civil War chronicle: the only day-by-day portrait of America's tragic conflict as told by soldiers, journalists, politicians, farmers, nurses, slaves, and other eyewitnesses (2000)
REFERENCE E655 .C49 2000 

The Library of Congress Civil War desk reference (2002)
REFERENCE E468 .L58 2002 

Manuscript Sources -- Government Documents (3rd Floor North)     top

PEOPLE

Abraham Lincoln Papers (97 reels)
PRINT: DOCS/FILM/US: LC 4.7:L 63 CATALOG RECORD
INTERNET: Mr. Lincoln's Virtual Library [Library of Congress]
Thousands of letters and telegrams to and from Lincoln. Lincoln's proclamations, memoranda, drafts of speeches. Pamphlets, petitions, clippings and other materials can be found in this collection. See: Index to the Abraham Lincoln Papers: DOCS/US: LC 4.7:L 63. This collection is in the process of being digitized on the Internet at the Library of Congress. 

Foreign Relations of the United States (1861-1968)
DOCS/US S 1.1:1865 APPENDIX CATALOG RECORD
This volume is titled The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Investigation and Trial Papers Relating to the Assassination of President Lincoln (16 reels)
DOCS/FILM/US: LC4.7/a:L 736 CATALOG RECORD
Papers collected for the use of the Military Commission convened to try those implicated in the plot
to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln and the record of the trial.

Lincoln Log [Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission]
"The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln incorporates Lincoln Day-by-Day: A Chronology, compiled by the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission with the cooperation and support of the Abraham Lincoln Association and published by the Government Printing Office in 1960. The text presented here includes all entries from that publication, with corrections and additions by the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a project of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum." —Home Page

Ulysses S. Grant papers (32 reels)
DOCS/FILM/US: LC 4.7:G 76
General correspondence to and from Grant, speeches, reports, messages, personal memoirs, military records, miscellaneous photographs and clippings. See: Index to the Ulysses S. Grant Papers: DOCS/US: LC 4.7:G 76 CATALOG RECORD

DOCUMENTS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERACY       top

The District of Columbia Emancipation Act (1862)
On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, 8 1/2 months before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Over the next 9 months, the Board of Commissioners appointed to administer the act approved 930 petitions, completely or in part, from former owners for the freedom of 2,989 former slaves.

The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.

The War of the Rebellion
Print: DOCS/US: W 45.5 CATALOG RECORD
Online: The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Multi-volume set includes documents from both the Union and Confederacy; including letters, telegrams, reports.

The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion
DOCS/US: W44.10 CATALOG RECORD
Statistics on injury/disability, illness and death in the Army compiled from reports to the Surgeon General. Data on "violent diseases and deaths" include suicide and execution. All statistics are subdivided by "White" and "Colored" troops.

Southern History of the War: Official Reports of Battles
DOCS/US: W 45.8 C71 CATALOG RECORD
Reprint of 1863 publication. Letters and reports of battles from Confederate Army and Naval officers.

Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865
DOCS/FICHE/US: Y 1.1/3:58-2 CATALOG RECORD
Published by the US Senate in 1904-5.
Access on INTERNET at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcc.html

Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion
DOCS/US N 16.6: 1/1 CATALOG RECORD
Published by the US Navy in 1894. Contains more Union documents than Confederate. Some Confederate documents were compiled from duplicates in personal collections. Reports, orders and correspondence.

Foreign Relations of the United States (1861-1968)
DOCS/US S 1.1 CATALOG RECORD
Official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. Produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian, began in 1861. 
Volume of note: 1865 APPENDIX: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

MAPS     top

Atlas of the Civil War (2004)
REFERENCE E468 .W754 2004   

Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
DOCS/ATLAS: W45.8 CATALOG RECORD

The Official Atlas of the Civil War (reproduction)
DOCS/ATLAS: W45.8:Rep CATALOG RECORD

CALIFORNIA   top

Records of California men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1867
DOCS/STATE CALIF A150 C16 CATALOG RECORD
Reprint of 1890 publication. Lists of California Volunteers including name, rank, date and place of enlistment. Includes some correspondence from individual companies.

Published Sources  -- Book Collection (6th Floor South)     top

The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Roy Basler
E457.91 1953.CATALOG RECORD
Nine-volume set of Lincoln's writings, more than 6,000 documents, presented chronologically. Location of original primary documents is noted. Includes annotations and cross-references.

Foreign Relations of the United States
See: Pollak Library Guide to Foreign Relations of the United States
The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian.It began in 1861 and now comprises more than 350 individual volumes. Foreign Relations volumes contain documents from Presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy.  

Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches, ed. Dunbar Rowland.
E467.1 .D2594 1973 CATALOG RECORD
Ten-volume set.

The Papers of Jefferson Davis CATALOG RECORD
Ten-volume set.

Memoirs and Selected Letters: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
E660 .G7562 1990 CATALOG RECORD

The Frederick Douglass Papers
E449 .D733 CATALOG RECORD
Five volumes. Volume 1: 1841-46. Volume 2: 1847-54. Volume 3: 1855-63: Includes speeches on Black participation in the war, emancipation and more. Volume 4: 1864-80. Volume 5: 1881-95.

Related Web Sources -- Primary Documents     top

Abraham Lincoln Papers [Library  of Congress]
The complete Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 20,000 documents. Most of the 20,000 items are from the 1850s through Lincoln's presidential years, 1860-65. Includes Lincoln's draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, his March 4, 1865, draft of his second Inaugural Address, and his August 23, 1864, memorandum expressing his expectation of being defeated for re-election in the upcoming presidential contest. In its online presentation, the Abraham Lincoln Papers comprises approximately 61,000 images and 10,000 transcriptions.

Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project
Papers and documents from Lincoln's Illinois years (1830-1861). Browse or search hundreds of Lincoln's writings and the text of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Site includes biographical information, bibliographies of important works about Lincoln, and related primary source materials.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates [Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project]
Debate text from Nicolay and Hay and also from local newspapers.

American Civil War Home Page [University of Tennessee]
Links to electronic files about the American Civil War (1861-1865). Sections include Biographical Information, The Secession Crisis, Battles & Campaigns, Images, Documentary Records, and Rosters & Regimental Histories.

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
Full text electronic library with links to more than 400 primary source documents relating to American history that have been digitized by academic institutions. Coverage is from the 15th Century to the 21st Century, arranged in a chronological list. Scroll down to heading: CIVIL WAR.

Foreign Relations of the United States
The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian. It began in 1861 and now comprises more than 350 individual volumes. Foreign Relations volumes contain documents from Presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy.  

Historic New York Times -- access from Library home page under DATABASES A-Z
See Chapter 2: The Civil War Years, 1860-1866. Digitized images of New York Times articles.

The Valley of the Shadow [University of Virginia]
Hypermedia archive of sources for the period before, during, and after the Civil War for Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Includes newspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, church records, population census, agricultural census, and military records.

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies [Cornell]
Also available in print: DOCS/US: W 45.5 CATALOG RECORD
This site is a "digital library of primary sources in American  history 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. This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints." -Quote from War of Rebellion Home Page

Selected Civil War Photographs at the Library of Congress
More than 1,000 digitized photographs from the Civil War, including "scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle after-effects. The collection also includes portraits of both Confederate and Union officers, and a selection of enlisted men."

Smithsonian: Civil War
Civil War artifacts housed in the Smithsonian Institution are available here.

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