Civil War Resources in GALILEO

In honor of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, here are several places in GALILEO to find articles, primary source documents, images, and more related to the American Civil War.

The New Georgia Encyclopedia (NGE) has a Civil War Overview article with links to many important political and military figures as well as important events and places, such as the Battle of Chickamauga, Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Battle of Resaca, Wilson’s Raid, Andersonville Prison, the Atlanta Campaign, and Sherman’s March to the Sea. There’s even an article to highlight Civil War journals, diaries, and memoirs. Search the NGE for civil war to find these and more. Last but not least, the New Georgia Encyclopedia recently published The Civil War in Georgia, a book that gathers selected articles from the NGE to examine the diversity of the Civil War experience in Georgia.

The Digital Library of Georgia includes many images and primary sources. Just choose to Browse by Time Period to see a list of collections from this time period. There are several collections that may be of particular interest. American Civil War is a collection of documents and artifacts held by the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia. The Anne Fannie Gorham Diary Collection includes the diary of a woman in Hamilton, GA chronicling the first years of the Civil War. Barnard’s Photographic Views of the Sherman Campaign provide images of Sherman’s Campaign through Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. The Cornelius C. Platter Civil War Diary is a personal account of Sherman’s march by a Union soldier (choose the Historical Timeline and see Platter’s entry for November 15th for the beginning of the campaign in Atlanta). For an account of the early years of the war from a Confederate perspective, see the Cyrus F. Jenkins Civil War Diary. You can also find images in Vanishing Georgia from this time period by using the advanced search to limit the date of the photo to 1861 to 1865. Civil War in the American South is a portal to manuscripts, photographs, books, newspapers, broadsides, and other materials housed in research libraries. Georgia Historic Books and the historical newspapers can also be good sources of information, although some of the newspapers have gaps in publication during the war years.

GeorgiaInfo has created This Week in Georgia Civil War History listing important events each week during the years of Civil War with images and primary source documents. A few important dates to check out are January 19, 1861; April 12, 1861; December 18, 1864; or April 9, 1865.

Encyclopædia Britannica Online offers an article on the American Civil War. Also, in observance of the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, the Britannica editors have created a special article titled “Remembering the Civil War” with images and videos.

History Reference Center offers quite a few interesting articles about the Civil War. You can search for Civil War or a particular person, event, or place, but a quick way to find items for this era is to limit your search to U.S. History - Civil War and Reconstruction in the Timeline field and then leave your search box blank.

For many wonderful primary source documents, try Annals of American History. You can use the timeline to browse to the years of the Civil War or search for your term. Some interesting documents include the Georgia Debate on Secession, some Sherman letters, an Andersonville Diary, and some documents surrounding the meeting at Appomattox Court House.

We recently had a session reviewing some of these resources in GALILEO for the Civil War Sesquicentennial. You can view the archive or see the handout.

Image from Barnard’s Photographic Views of the Sherman Campaign

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