The Newberry Library
Newberry Library: Home Front: The Visual Culture of the Civil War North
Lesson using primary resources examines the ways in which images shaped the meaning of the war for people at home and the meaning of the home during wartime.
Central Intelligence Agency
Cia: Intelligence in the Civil War [Pdf]
A multi-topic look at intelligence gathering, the tools used, and the people involved in both the North and the South during the Civil War. Comprehensive, interesting coverage from the CIA.
University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina: The Civil War Day by Day
These primary sources offer a glimpse into the mentality of those living in the South during the Civil War. Included are pictures, letters from soldiers, letters from women on the homefront, and reactions to the Confederate surrender and...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Civil War, a Nation Divided
A wonderful resource using primary and secondary source materials to explore many facets of the Civil War from the war itself to its impact on the home front. Includes video and text downloads.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Factory vs. Plantation in the North and South
This instructional activity helps learners study life in the United States in the years before the Civil War. Students will gain a better understanding of why people grew willing to fight to defend their way of life. Many of the...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Conflicting Newspaper Accounts (Civil War Lesson Plan) [Pdf]
Multilayered lesson that begins with analysis of a series of photographs of the battle of Antietam and ends with writing an account of the battle in the style of a nineteenth-century war correspondent from opposing perspectives of North...
Other
Civil War Artillery Projectiles: Field Artillery Projectiles
A wealth of information about the projectiles used in artillery in both the North and the South. Included are pictures, cross-sections, and descriptions of the various types of projectiles.
Library of Congress
Loc: Civil War and Reconstruction
This site from the Library of Congress provides overviews of the South and North during the Civil War include soldiers' stories from both sides. There are primary documents on these topics as well as Freedmen and the Reconstruction.
Ohio State University
E History: Introduction to Civil War Cavalry
Read about the role of the cavalry in the Civil War in both the North and the South. Find out about cavalry tactics and weapons as well as information about some of the famous cavalry commanders.
Other
Florida Reenactors: Civil War Revolvers of the North and South
A comprehensive review of the different kinds of revolvers used by both the Union and Confederate armies in the Civil War.
American Battlefield Trust
American Battlefield Trust: Civil War: North and South: Different Cultures, Same Country
The Civil War that raged across the nation from 1861 to 1865 was the violent conclusion to decades of diversification. Gradually, throughout the beginning of the nineteenth century, the North and South followed different paths,...
CPALMS
Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: The Civil War's Legacy
In this tutorial, students look at how the Civil War ended and the impact on the North and the South and on the future of the United States. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution are also examined for how they came...
University of North Carolina
Unc University Libraries: Digital Collections: Gilmer Civil War Map Collection
A large collection of Civil War maps of the south, mostly North Carolina and Virginia. The collection can be searched by state or key word.
Siteseen
Siteseen: Civil Conflict: Civil War Statistics
Presents a collection of 25 interesting facts, statistics, and information about the Civil War between the North and the South that raged from April 12, 1861 - May 10, 1865 including the population of the nation, some of the battles that...
Other
Institute for Historical Review: The Civil War Concentration Camps
In an article which examines the prisons of both the North and the South, Mark Weber explains the problems both sides encountered when dealing with prisoners of war and explores myths and truths surrounding the treatment of prisoners of...
University of North Carolina
Documenting the South: George E. Pickett: The Heart of a Soldier
At this site from the University of North Carolina, you can read letters written by George E. Pickett (1825-1875), a Confederate soldier. Originally published in 1913, this book provides George E. Pickett's correspondence with his wife,...
Hartford Web Publishing
Hartford Black History Project: Citizens of Color: Black Society After Civil War
Discusses the history of the African American community in Hartford, Connecticut, in terms of the migration of former slaves to the city right after the end of the Civil War. Also discusses a second wave of migration as African Americans...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South
A very good compilation of the advantages and disadvantages of both the North and South at the beginning of the Civil War. The South had the trained officers, but the North had the factories to make rifles. Read about the major...
University of North Carolina
Documenting the South: John H. Worsham
At this site from the University of North Carolina there is a firsthand account from a foot soldier who fought under the command of "Stonewall," Jackson during the Civil War. Download the full text of John H. Worsham's text, which was...
University of North Carolina
Documenting the South: The Southern Homefront
Diaries and Personal Correspondence from Southerners during the Civil War provided by the University of North Carolina. An excellent collection of primary source documents for your study of everyday Southern life during the Civil War era.
Other
Radford University: The Civil War for Fifth Graders
Covers many aspects of the Civil War, without too much text for Grade 5 students. Includes links to additional information and a few learning activities. (Note: Some links may no longer be working.)
Digital History
Digital History: Why Do People Fight? The Causes of the Civil War [Pdf]
Throughout the years since the end of the Civil War, historians have been weighing in on the causes of that terrible time in the history of the United States. Interpretations have changed over the generations. Read the questions that...
US Department of State
Office of the Historian: The Trent Affair, 1861
Find out about the diplomatic crisis between the United States and Great Britain at the beginning of the Civil War, why it was important to the North and South, and how it was resolved.
University of Michigan
Making of America: The Spirit of the South Towards Northern Freemen and Soldiers
The full text of a William Lloyd Garrison's compilation of newspaper articles and letters of Southerners railing against the North in the Civil War. There is no commentary, only the primary source documents.