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This website summarizes what each general for the Union and the Confederacy did during the American Civil War. It discusses their importance during the war, and connects the user to articles with more information about each general. Clicking the links next to each name offers the user general information, articles, photos, other wars they were part of, and videos. In the classroom, this tool helps students get more information about the perspective of their role.

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Summary List of Famous Civil War Generals & Commanders during the American Civil War

There were hundreds of generals commissioned in the American Civil War on both the Union and Confederate armies. Some, like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Ulysess S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman are household names. They, along with many generals and commanders, both major and minor, were the commanders that led the troops and helped decide the outcome of most civil war battles. Here is a list of important civil war generals and commanders, along with links to more information and articles about each one.

Confederate Generals

List of important Confederate (or Southern) Civil War Generals

Robert E. Lee

General Robert E. Lee was the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and is considered the most successful confederate general. Learn more about Robert E. Lee

Stonewall Jackson

General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson fought brilliantly from First Bull Run to his death at the battle of Chancellorsville from friendly fire. Learn more about Stonewall Jackson

J.E.B. Stuart

General J.E.B. Stuart was a famous cavalry commander known for his reconnaissance. Read more about Jeb Stuart

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest was an innovative cavalry commander, and was the only General on either side who began as a private. Read more about Nathan Bedford Forrest

James Longstreet

General James Longstreet led the First Corps of the Army Of Northern Virginia is considered one of the most capable generals on either side. Read more about James Longstreet

Braxton Bragg

General Braxton Bragg led the Army Of Mississippi and Tennessee from Shiloh to Chattanooga. Read more about Braxton Bragg

George Pickett

General George Pickett is best remembered for his futile and bloody assault on Cemetery Ridge On Day 3 of the Battle of Gettysburg. Read more about George Pickett

Bloody Bill Anderson

William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson started life as a brutal killer, leading pro-confederate units on attacks against Union forces. Read more about Bloody Bill Anderson

John Mosby

John S. Mosby was a Confederate Cavalry Commander known for his speed and elusiveness. Read more about John Mosby

P.G.T. Beauregard

Pierre Gustave Toutant (PGT) Beauregard was a Confederate General best known for starting the civil war with his attack on Fort Sumter. Read more about P.G.T. Beauregard

A.P. Hill

A.P. Hill was a confederate General best known for commanding the "Light Division," and fighting ably with his commander Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Read more about A.P. Hill

Kirby Smith

Edmund Kirby Smith commanded armies in Tennessee and the Trans-Mississippi Theaters. Read more about Kirby Smith

John Bell Hood

John Bell Hood (1831-1879) was reputed for his aggressive and bold commands, a reputation which continued in battles despite his physical disabilities. Read more about John Bell Hood

Albert Sidney Johnston

Albert Sidney Johnston fought and battled in five wars. He was mortally wounded at age 59 during the civil war at the Battle of Shiloh. Read more about Albert Sidney Johnston

Barnard Bee

Barnard Elliot Bee Jr. died at age 37 in action at First Bull Run and is known for giving the nickname "Stonewall" to Brigadier general Thomas J. Jackson. Read more about Barnard Bee

Joseph Johnston

General Joseph Johnston was the highest ranking officer to leave the U.S. army to join the Confederacy. He fought in many of the Civil War's major battles and died of pheumonia. Read more about Joseph Johnston

Jubal Early

Jubal Anderson Early was known for his aggressive and sometimes reckless style. Read more about Jubal Early

Lewis Armistead

Lewis Addison was a successful Confederate General who fought and died during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Read more about Lewis Armistead

Porter Alexander

Edward Porter Alexander was a Brigadier General known for being the first man to use signal flags to send messages using signal flags. Read more about Porter Alexander

Richard Ewell

Richard Stoddert Ewell led numerous battles during the Civil War, but his failure to capture Cemetery Hill on day one at Gettysburg led to his men and himself to be captured and imprisoned at Richmond. Read more about Richard Ewell

John Pemberton

Union Generals

List of important Union (or Northern) Civil War Generals

Ulysses S. Grant

General Ulysses S. Grant led the Union Army during the later years of the civil war, and with his victory at Appomattox Courthouse, effectively ended the civil war. Learn more about Ulysses S. Grant

George Mcclellan

General George Mcclellan led the Army Of the Potomac during the early years of the civil war. Learn more about George Mcclellan

Robert Anderson

Starting as a Major and ending as a Brigadier General, Robert Anderson is best known for surrendering Fort Sumter. Learn more about Robert Anderson

Nathaniel Banks

General Nathaniel Banks was a hapless leader of the Union Army, suffering one defeat after another. Learn more about Nathaniel Banks

General William Tecumseh Sherman

General William Tecumseh Sherman fought in many battles and his best known for taking Atlanta followed by his brutal by effective "march to the sea." Learn more about William Tecumseh Sherman

George Custer

General George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer who served in the civil war and Indian wars, meeting his end at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Read more about George Custer

Winfield Scott Hancock

General Winfield Scott Hancock was a US Army officer for his entire career and eventually a nominee for the office of President of the US in 1880. He served in the army for a total of four decades and is considered a war hero for his Gettysburg service. His nickname is "Hancock the Superb." He died at Governor's Island in 1886 because of complications from diabetes and an infected carbuncle. He was buried at the Montgomery Cemetery in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Read more about Winfield Scott Hancock

Abner Doubleday

Though there is a myth saying that Abner Doubleday was the inventor of baseball, he never said that he did. Doubleday was a big supporter of Abraham Lincoln. He died of a heart condition and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Read more about Abner Doubleday

Ambrose Burnside

General Ambrose Burnside Ambrose, besides being a soldier, was an industrialist, railroad executive and an inventor, eventually becoming the governor of Rhode Island as well as US Senator. In 1881, Burnside died of a heart attack and was buried at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island.. Read more about Ambrose Burnside

Arthur Macarthur

General Arthur Macarthur was one of five men to ever be promoted to a five star rank of the general army. Eventually, MacArthur became the governor general for the military for the Philippines in 1900. He died of a heart attack at the age of 67 and though he was originally laid to rest in Milwaukee, his remains were moved to the Arlington National Cemetery. Read more about Arthur Macarthur

Benjamin Butler

General Benjamin Butler was not only a soldier but also a lawyer and eventually a politician for the state of Massachusetts. He still ranks as one of the, if not the, most controversial political generals during the Civil War. Butler died in court at the capital, Washington DC. He is buried at his in-laws' cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts. Read more about Benjamin Butler

Daniel Sickles

General Daniel Sickles was a Union general during the Civil War as well as a controversial politician. Sickles was injured during battle and his leg was amputated. Even then he did all he could to boost the morale of his soldiers. After the war, he served as a Minister to Spain and as the New York State Board of Civil Service Commissioners' President until 1889. He was sheriff of New York and eventually a representative for Congress. He died in New York City and was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery. Read more about Daniel Sickles

George Meade

General George Gordon Meade was a civil engineer and an army officer before serving as a Union general during the Civil War. He was successful in defeating General Lee but was criticized for not pursuing the Confederate Army when in his grasp. He became a commissioner of Fairmont Park in Philadelphia until his death. He died from a combination of pneumonia and old wounds and now rests at the Laurel Hill Cemetery. Read more about George Meade

George Thomas

General George Thomas served as an army officer throughout his career and a Union general at the time of the American Civil War. His career was an overall success even if he did not get the fame that other contemporaries did. Thomas died of a stroke while he was writing an answer to a critique of his military career. He was laid to rest at Oakwood Cemetery in upstate New York. Read more about George Thomas

Irvin Mcdowell

General Irvin Mcdowell was an army officer who is better known for the defeat at First Battle of Bull Run. McDowell had at his disposal the army of Northeastern Virginia which unfortunately was inexperienced and not ready. He launched his attack due to pressure from Washington and though the strategy was imaginative, his troops were not ready to carry it out. McDowell died in 1885 and was buried at the San Francisco National Cemetery. Read more about Irvin Mcdowell

John Buford

General John Buford was an officer of the Union Cavalry during the Civil War and one of his most important roles took place at Gettysburg. Buford is known for selecting the right field of battle during Gettysburg. He died at the age of 37 due to contracting typhoid. Even in his death bed he was thinking of military strategy as his last words were "Put guards on all the roads and don't let the men run to rear." Read more about John Buford

John Pope

General John Pope was a general for the Union during the Civil War and a career army officer. He is mostly known for the defeat at Second Battle of Bull Run in the east, after which he was sent to Minnesota. John Pope eventually became major general in the regular army and would die at the Ohio Soldiers' Home in Sandusky, Ohio. He was then buried at the Belle Fontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. Read more about John Pope

John Reynolds

General John Reynolds was an army officer and a general during the Civil War. He was a very respected senior commander and is known for committing the Army of the Potomac to Gettysburg. Reynolds was killed early in that same battle. He was buried in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1863. Read more about John Reynolds

Joseph Hooker

General Joseph Hooker was a major general for the Union during the Civil War and a career army officer. Hooker was known for his audacious battle strategies, one of which took place against Robert E. Lee. However, he lost that Battle at Chancellorsville. Hooker led the procession for the funeral of President Lincoln. He died while visiting Garden City in Long Island, New York and was laid to rest at the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Read more about Joseph Hooker

Joshua Chamberlain

General Joshua Chamberlain was a college professor and eventually a brigadier general and brevet major general for the Union army during the Civil War. He is known for having been given the command of Union troops for the surrender ceremony with Robert E. Lee. He served as the governor of his state of Maine. He died in 1914 in Portland, Maine and was buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in Brunswick. Read more about Joshua Chamberlain

Philip Sheridan

General Philip Sheridan was a Union general and an army officer throughout his career. He is known for his association with Ulysses S. Grant and for his fast assent to major general. He was also very instrumental to the development of Yellowstone National Park. He died of heart failure in Dartmouth, Massachusetts in 1888 and he was buried near Arlington House in the Arlington National Cemetery. Read more about Philip Sheridan

Oliver Howard

General Oliver Howard was a Union general in the Civil War and a career army officer. He suffered defeats at Gettysburg and Chancellorsville but at Western Theater his reputation went back up. Howard would base a lot of his policy decisions on his religion and that is why he was nicknamed "The Christian General." Howard died in Vermont and is buried at the Lake View Cemetery in Burlington. Read more about Oliver Howard

William Starke Rosecrans

General William Starke Rosecrans was not only a general for the Union during the Civil War, but also a coal and oil company executive, an inventor, a politician and a diplomat. His early military career was full of success, however, later suffered humiliating defeats. He was considered a possibility for a Vice Presidential run with Abraham Lincoln. He served as a congressman from California and eventually died in Redondo Beach, California. Read more about William Starke Rosecrans

Civil War Generals Articles From History Net Magazines

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Summary List of Famous Civil War Generals & Commanders during the American Civil War There were hundreds of generals commissioned in the American Civil War on both the Union and Confederate armies. Some, like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Ulysess S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman are household names.

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This website was used for multiple resources regarding the American Civil War. It provides both the popular voices heard during the time period such as Lincoln and Davis, as well as the unheard voice perspectives, such as nurses, black soldiers, and women. It provides videos, articles, photos, and statistics that are clear and created with viewers in mind. The videos are explanatory without being overbearing, and the graphics will grab students’ attention. The site shows both sides, from the before the war to after. Students can search around the section for more information than they know what to do with, so teachers will want to guide where specifically students should look for information.

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Jefferson Davis - American Civil War - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Jefferson Davis, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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This website is specifically for information about Ohio prior to and during the American Civil War. It explains different views of sectional issues and the war throughout the state. It also provides links to explanations of wars and generals in Ohio and surrounding areas for the user. Clicking these links takes the user to short articles on the site, where they can also see generals involved in that specific battle. This site is useful for researching Ohio’s role in the war, but is limited to Ohio alone. However, my Ohio students can learn their state’s role in depth and in easy to read language.

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American Civil War - Ohio History Central

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Ohioans played an important role in the war effort. During the American Civil War, the State of Ohio provided the United States government with three types of military units: artillery units, cavalry units, and infantry units. Ohio supplied the federal government with more than 260 regiments of men; not counting several companies that formed the basis of regiments in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Massachusetts.

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This website was used for multiple resources regarding the American Civil War. It provides both the popular voices heard during the time period such as Lincoln and Davis, as well as the unheard voice perspectives, such as nurses, black soldiers, and women. It provides videos, articles, photos, and statistics that are clear and created with viewers in mind. The videos are explanatory without being overbearing, and the graphics will grab students’ attention. The site shows both sides, from the before the war to after. Students can search around the section for more information than they know what to do with, so teachers will want to guide where specifically students should look for information.

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The Confederate States of America was a collection of 11 states that seceded from the United States in 1860 following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Led by Jefferson Davis and existing from 1861 to 1865, the Confederacy struggled for legitimacy and was never recognized as a sovereign nation. After suffering a crushing defeat in the Civil War, the Confederate States of America ceased to exist.

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH

The southern and northern United States began to pull apart in the 19th century, culturally and economically, with slavery at the center of the rift. As early as 1850, South Carolina and Mississippi called for secession.

By 1860, Southern politics was dominated by the idea of states' rights in the context of slavery to support the South's agricultural economy, and slave-heavy, cotton-producing agricultural states embraced secession as the solution.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

The election of Abraham Lincoln was labeled an act of war by some Southern politicians, who predicted armies would come to seize slaves and force white women to marry black men. Secession meetings and assemblies started to appear across the South.

As secession began to seem more likely, so did war. Altercations with Union troops at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and Fort Pickens, Florida, escalated.

Southern politicians began to procure weaponry, and some secessionists even proposed kidnapping Lincoln.

SECESSION

By February 1861, seven Southern states had seceded. On February 4 of that year, representatives from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana met in Montgomery, Alabama, with representatives from Texas arriving later, to form the Confederate States of America.

Former secretary of war, military man and then-Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis was elected Confederate president. Ex-Georgia governor, congressman and former anti-secessionist Alexander H. Stephens became vice-president of the Confederate States of America.

CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION

The Confederacy used the U.S. Constitution as a model for its own, with some wording differences and a few changes regarding the executive and judicial branches.

The Confederate president would serve for six years with no reelection possibility, but was considered more powerful than his Union counterpart.

While the Confederate Constitution upheld the institution of slavery, it prohibited the African slave trade.

CONFEDERATE ENLISTMENT

Davis predicted a long war and requested legislation allowing three-year enlistments. The military affairs office, however, anticipated a short conflict and granted the authority to call up troops for only one year of service.

On March 9, 1861, Davis called up 7,700 volunteers from five states, joining volunteers in South Carolina. By mid-April, 62,000 troops were raised and stationed in former Union bases.

CIVIL WAR BEGINS

On April 12, 1861, following diplomatic bickering over Lincoln's pledge to get supplies to Union troops at Fort Sumter, Confederate forces fired shots at the fort and Union troops surrendered, sparking the Civil War.

In rapid succession, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas joined the Confederacy.

In May, Davis made Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. The city was soon filled with some 1,000 government members, 7,000 civil servants, and scores of rowdy Confederate soldiers itching for battle.

The First Battle of Bull Run took place on July 16, 1861, and ended with a Confederate victory.

CONFEDERATE ARIZONA

The Arizona Territory voted to join the Confederacy in March 1861, but it wasn't until 1862 that the territorial government got around to officially proclaiming it part of the Confederate States of America.

Several battles took place within the territory, and in 1863, Confederate forces were vanquished from the Arizona Territory, which was claimed as Union and then split into two territories, the second being the New Mexico Territory.

MARTIAL LAW AND MANDATORY SERVICE

Most of the work of the Confederate government involved trying to wage the Civil War without the appropriate means, a domino effect that sometimes rendered it helpless.

In February 1862, Davis was granted the authority to suspend habeas corpus, which he did immediately until July 1864, and to declare martial law, which Davis did many times during the war.

Problems with adequately arming the troops, as well as getting supplies to them, hampered war efforts. The brief one-year enlistment also caused problems because as the war dragged on, rates of volunteering and re-enlistment fell.

Davis was soon forced to make military service mandatory for all able-bodied males between 18 and 35 years old. Later exemptions were made for owners of 20 slaves or more. Regardless, Union troops radically outnumbered the Confederate troops.

A SHORTAGE OF MEN

The draft created a deficit in civilian manpower to police the slave population. States created separate courts to try slaves because of elevated disobedience levels. Paranoia rose, and some hoped to remedy it through conscripting slaves into military service.

There was also a severe shortage of white workers. Out of need, the Confederacy employed both free and enslaved blacks at a higher rate during the war, using blacks to support the troops with services and by working in hospitals as nurses and orderlies.

CONFEDERACY IN CHAOS

State governors found themselves continually in conflict with Davis about government overreach challenging their sacred states rights, especially federal conscription laws.

The military exacerbated the situation: As the war dragged on, some troops prowled the countryside to rob civilians. Others rounded up civilians for random (often unfounded) infractions, infuriating local authorities.

The federal government reflected this chaos. Davis saw his authority repeatedly challenged, almost facing impeachment. Davis feuded regularly with Vice-President Stephens, bickered with generals, often had to reconstruct his cabinet and faced repeated backlashes from previously supportive newspapers.

FINANCIAL DISASTER

The chaos in government spread outward. The Confederacy was plagued by major economic problems throughout the war, unable to keep up with the production boom in the industrialized north and incapable of overcoming the export limitations brought on by war.

As the war neared its end, the Confederacy was crippled by severe infrastructure problems that it could not afford to fix and was desperate for supplies. With banks decimated and closing, it attempted to pay for its needs with IOUs.

CONFEDERATE LOSSES

Despite further conscription efforts, Confederate forces dwindled to about one-third the manpower of their Union foes. Davis faced opposition in Congress and attempted to save his position by restructuring military leadership.

Militarily, the Confederacy saw considerable losses on the battlefields, and Atlanta and Chattanooga were taken by Union forces, which continued to advance.

Increasing numbers of Confederate soldiers were deserting and returning home. The Conscript Bureau was closed in 1865, no longer able to find men to draft.

ARMING THE SLAVES

The concept of drafting and arming slaves was a recurring issue throughout the Confederacy's existence, and it almost became a reality just before the fall of the rebel nation.

In the final session of Congress in 1865, Davis proposed the federal government purchase 40,000 slaves for military work followed with some form of emancipation. In March, Congress voted to arm slaves, but offered no emancipation.

General Order 14 resulted, which would immediately give freedom to slaves who served in the military. Recruiting and training black soldiers began.

Some members of Congress, however, began to make amends with the Union. Resignations began to pile up in the president's cabinet.

Three weeks later, Richmond fell, and Davis fled to North Carolina.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA COLLAPSES

On April 9, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his famed Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

Despite Davis' order for a new phase of war shifting to guerrilla tactics, many troops followed Lee and also surrendered.

By May, Confederate officials announced the government had ended. Davis refused to give up hope, but was captured by Union forces in Georgia in May 1865, and sent to prison for two years. He never backed down on his devotion to the Confederate cause.

The Civil War officially ended on May 13, 1865, and the Confederate States of America ceased to exist.

SOURCES

Look Away: A History of the Confederate States of America. William C. Davis.
The Confederate Nation: 1861 to 1865. Emory M. Thomas.
The Civil War. National Parks Service.

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The Confederate States of America was a collection of 11 states that seceded from the United States in 1860 following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Led by Jefferson Davis and existing from 1861 to 1865, the Confederacy struggled for legitimacy and was never recognized as a sovereign nation.

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This pdf has letters from both soldiers and civilians. Students can analyze the letters to help get a better sense of the events and feelings of the people at the time. The letters are typed out making them easier to read, and there are enough that students could each read a separate letter.

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This website was used for multiple resources regarding the American Civil War. It provides both the popular voices heard during the time period such as Lincoln and Davis, as well as the unheard voice perspectives, such as nurses, black soldiers, and women. It provides videos, articles, photos, and statistics that are clear and created with viewers in mind. The videos are explanatory without being overbearing, and the graphics will grab students’ attention. The site shows both sides, from the before the war to after. Students can search around the section for more information than they know what to do with, so teachers will want to guide where specifically students should look for information.

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Northern Volunteer Nurses of America's Civil War

U.S.A.M.H.I., Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, Photo by Jim Enos

A nurse prepares to spoon-feed soldiers in this photograph taken inside a Union hospital. Women also likely donated the coverlets warming the men.

They came from the paneled drawing rooms of the nation's great mansions, the log lean-tos of the far frontier and the chaste confines of Eastern convents. Lacking professional training but endlessly resourceful, the volunteer nurses of the Civil War labored tirelessly to bring aid and comfort to the sick and wounded soldiers on both sides of the fighting.

At the outbreak of the war, the nursing profession was in its infancy and dominated by men-women generally were considered too frail to cope with the rigors of administering to the sick. There were only about 150 hospitals in the entire country, and no formal nursing schools existed. The massive numbers of sick and wounded men who needed care during the Civil War exacerbated the lack of medical professionalization, and wartime hospital facilities, particularly early in the conflict, were primitive and disorganized. Military and societal protocol banned women from field hospitals, so most nursing duties continued to be assigned to men. Increasing numbers of casualties and the overburdening of aide facilities, however, soon broke down gender-related strictures on nursing and spurred the nation's women into taking immediate and decisive action to help correct the situation.

Clara Barton, who later founded the American Red Cross, brought supplies and help to the battlefronts before formal relief organizations could take shape to administer such shipments. Acting entirely on her own, the Massachusetts-born Barton personally collected food, clothing and medical supplies for the hard-pressed Union Army after the Peninsula campaign in 1862. She later served in a similar capacity at other engagements.

Religious orders also responded to this new opportunity for service by sending their own trained nurses to staff field hospitals near the front. Within a few months of the war's onset, some 600 women were serving as nurses in 12 hospitals. In all, eight Catho-lic orders sent nuns to serve in the war.

In April 1861, Dorothea Dix and a hastily assembled group of volunteer female nurses staged a march on Washington, demanding that the government recognize their desire to aid the Union's wounded. Although not a nurse, Dix was nationally known as a crusader for enlightened care of the mentally ill, and her grandfather, Elijah Dix, had been a prominent Boston physician. Secretary of War Simon Cameron quickly named her to superintend the women nurses assigned to the U.S. Army. Cameron's nominating citation read in part: 'She will give at all times all necessary aid in organizing military hospitals for the care of all sick and wounded soldiers, aiding the chief surgeons by supplying nurses and substantial means for the comfort and relief of the suffering.' Despite such responsibilities, however, neither she nor her nurses were granted military appointments.

By nature compassionate and giving, Dix was also a no-nonsense and often quirky leader. At first she required nursing applicants to be at least 30 years of age-old by the standards of the time-and 'plain looking,' wearing brown or black clothing with no ornaments, bows, curls, jewelry or hoops. She steadfastly denied admission to nuns or other representatives of religious sisterhoods. Despite these stringent requirements, some 2,000 women across the country laid aside their cherished jewels and laces to pass Dix's austere muster.

As casualties mounted, Dix was forced to relax her standards, and after the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861 she accepted anyone willing to work. Her nurses were paid 40 cents a day plus rations, housing and transportation, while male nurses received $20.50 a month plus superior benefits.

As the war dragged on, other women augmented the work of Dix's corps and the volunteer nuns. Soldiers' wives, residents of battlefront areas and representatives of newly formed organizations such as the U.S. Sanitary Commission all helped care for sick and wounded soldiers.

Dix operated from houses she personally rented in Washington, and she did not take off a single day during her four years of service. Her hospitality was always available to nurses and discharged servicemen who lacked shelter. Louisa May Alcott, who became ill with typhoid fever soon after entering her brief service as a nurse, gratefully recalled Dix'stealing a moment from her busy life to watch over the stranger of whom she was as thoughtfully tender as any mother.'

In her zeal to reduce suffering and death, Dix constantly prowled the hospitals. Her intolerance of hospital administrators and nurses who did not meet her exacting standards caused constant friction. Finally, in October 1863, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton transferred part of the responsibility for appointing nurses to the surgeon general and gave medical officers at each hospital jurisdiction over their own female nurses.

Dix was heartbroken but responded with a magnanimity that drew admiration from even her staunchest opponents. After she resigned at war's end and her post was abolished, she continued to work doggedly for another 18 months, helping individual soldiers and their families deal with the stresses of recuperation. Throughout the rest of her life, Dix begged biographers to de-emphasize her Civil War years. But in 1983, long after she was dead and could not protest the well-deserved honor, she was featured on a U.S. postage stamp.

While Dix was gathering her forces in Washington, Mary Ann Bickerdyke was taking matters into her own equally dedicated hands in Galesburg, Ill. A 45-year-old juggernaut, Bickerdyke personified Dix's ideal nurse. Before the war, she had received training in botanic and homeopathic medicine and had been engaged in private-duty nursing. Recently bereaved by the untimely death of both her husband and young daughter, she felt divinely called to spend her remaining life relieving human suffering.

On a Sunday in June 1861, Bickerdyke listened as her pastor, Edward Beecher, brother of Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, told of the need for volunteer help in the military camps in nearby Cairo, Ill. When the congregation asked her to accompany a load of food, clothing and medical supplies to Cairo on behalf of the church, she was ready. Except for short visits, that was the last her two young sons saw of her until the end of the war.

When Bickerdyke saw the poor condition of the hospital in Cairo, she took a room in town and immediately began a determined cleanup effort that quickly spread to the other five military hospitals in the area. Although he granted her a grudging welcome at first, Dr. J.J. Woodward, a surgeon with the 22nd Illinois Infantry, later praised Bickerdyke as'strong as a man, muscles of iron, nerves of finest steel; sensitive, but self-reliant, kind and tender; seeking all for others, nothing for herself.'

Throughout the war, 'Mother' Bickerdyke moved from one trouble spot to another, acting on her belief that bodies healed best when they were bathed, placed in clean surroundings and fed well. She evinced a special concern for enlisted men and stopped at nothing to get supplies that would bring comfort to her 'boys.' She begged food from any viable source, raided government supplies-often without permission-and commandeered boxes of delicacies sent from home to healthy soldiers. Many times, when government rations were waylaid or ran out, she found a way to feed the troops. Her tireless zeal earned her the nickname 'Cyclone in Calico.'

Library of Congress

Although her strict nature earned her the unkind sobriquet 'Dragon Dix' from some, the rigid standards set by Dorothea Dix saved the lives of many men.

In the early period of her service, Bickerdyke held no authority other than semiofficial status granted occasionally by Union Army officers. Her manner, however, was so forthright and compelling that she was rarely questioned. When one surgeon dared to ask where she received permission to do what she was doing, Bickerdyke retorted she was given orders by 'the Lord God Almighty. Have you anything that ranks higher than that?' Later, she was named a Sanitary Commission agent.

In spite of her brusque and aggressive behavior, Bickerdyke gained the friendship of a few high-ranking officers, among them Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. Toward the end of the war, when someone complained about Bickerdyke to Sherman, he commented that she was the only person around who outranked him, and he suggested the complainer refer the matter to President Abraham Lincoln.

On one occasion, when she was besieging Sherman at an inopportune moment, the oft-prickly general asked whether she had ever heard of insubordination. Bickerdyke responded in an equally testy manner: 'You bet I've heard of it....It's the only way I ever get anything done in this army.'

She demonstrated that point one day when troops passed one of her hospitals en route to battle at Corinth, Miss. When Bickerdyke invited the captain to halt his exhausted men so that she and her staff could feed them, he refused. As he led the men on, a deep voice cried, 'Halt!' The men slowed to a stop, confused. Their bewilderment was replaced with glee when a group of women led by Bickerdyke quickly served them soup and coffee and gave them bread, fruit and fresh water to take along on the march. By the time anyone realized Bickerdyke had given the spurious order to halt, all the men had been served and sent off with the only food they were to see for two days. A formal reprimand brought no firm promise of reform from the unrepentant Bickerdyke.

Major General John 'Black Jack' Logan also crossed paths with Bickerdyke, meeting her for the first time late one night after a battle. While lying in his tent, he observed a lone figure with a lamp crisscrossing the battlefield and sent an orderly to bring the person in for questioning. Bickerdyke explained that she could not rest until she was satisfied that no living man remained on the field. The story was picked up by the press and contributed to her folk-hero status. After that incident, Logan often confided in her, called on her to provide for his men, and ordered her to ride at his side at the Union's gala victory parade in Washington after the Confederate surrender.

As matron of many temporary field hospitals, Mother Bickerdyke often crossed swords with surgeons and other staff members. In some cases, her complaints to superior officers brought disciplinary action; other situations she resolved in her own way. She reserved special vengeance for anyone she suspected of snitching supplies or delicacies she had set aside for the sick and wounded. Once, after repeated warnings to kitchen workers, she decided to set a trap. She cooked some peaches, secretly spiked them with a potent but harmless purgative, and left them to cool while she worked elsewhere. Soon, agonized cries from the kitchen attested that she finally had made her point.

Bickerdyke drafted anyone within reach of her voice to help with the endless labor. Healthy soldiers and camp visitors were either bribed with hot meals or badgered into service. When gentlemen from the Christian Commission came to restore wounded souls, she suggested that they would have a better chance of success if they began with wounded bodies.

Formerly active in the Underground Railroad, Bickerdyke respected blacks and often sought their help. Many contrabands cheerfully worked hard for her, and, in turn, she fought for their fair treatment and taught them skills they could use later in postwar America.

Bickerdyke was equally effective on her occasional speaking forays for the Sanitary Commission. One day toward the end of the war, she was telling the ladies of Henry Ward Beecher's church in Brooklyn how she had bound the stumps of new amputees with old cloth bags when she had nothing better. Suddenly, she asked the startled women to rise, lift their dresses, and drop one of their many petticoats to the floor. The collected garments filled three trunks, and within a few weeks, Bickerdyke was using the petticoats to bandage the terrible sores of prisoners released from Andersonville in Georgia.

When the last Illinois man was discharged, Bickerdyke resigned from the Sanitary Commission to devote the rest of her life to her family and to charitable deeds. She died in 1901, and a sturdy freighter named for her carried on her work in the 20th century by ferrying Spam and sulfa drugs to American servicemen isolated on Pacific islands in World War II.

Another tireless champion of wounded enlisted men during the Civil War was Hannah Ropes. The daughter and sister of prominent Maine lawyers, she was over 50 when the war started. An experienced nurse, she had gained prewar recognition as a reformer and abolitionist and was acquainted with many New England political leaders. Like Dix and Bickerdyke, she believed every soldier deserved proper sanitation, good food and humanitarian treatment, and never hesitated to go to the top to obtain such creature comforts. Secretary of War Stanton personally took action against officers and stewards she found to be slovenly and incompetent.

In 1862 Ropes became the matron of the Union Hotel Hospital located in the Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Georgetown, where Louisa May Alcott also served. In her book Hospital Sketches, Alcott described Ropes' actions as casualties arrived from the Battle of Fredericksburg: 'The hall was full of these wrecks of humanity...and, in the midst of it all, the matron's motherly face brought more comfort to many a poor soul, than the cordial draughts she administered, or the cheery words that welcomed all, making the hospital a home.'

In her own published diary and letters, Ropes spoke often of her particular regard for the enlisted man. In October 1862, she wrote, 'The poor privates are my special children of the present,' and described 'the loss they have experienced in health, in spirits, in weakened faith in man, as well as shattered hope in themselves.' Later, she wrote to her daughter, Alice, 'I owe no man anything but love.'

In her final diary entry in December of that year, Ropes, writing in the third person, described the passing of one of these men: "Thank you, madam....I must be marching on.' So said Lewie as he passed away. Sitting on one side of him was his nurse, Miss Alcott, on the other side the matron [Ropes]....There was in the man such a calm consciousness of life, such repose in its secure strength....The matron is left alone when the breath ceases.' A few weeks later, Ropes died of typhoid fever, the same disease that had shortened Alcott's nursing service.

Sometimes caring for the war wounded became a family undertaking. In New York, Jane Newton Woolsey, widow of a prominent industrialist, quickly rallied her six daughters to the cause. Georgeanna ('Georgy'), Eliza and Jane became nurses, while the others made supplies. The Woolsey home near the Brevoort House Hotel be-came a center for preparing supplies and distributing them to Union hospitals.

In 1861 Georgy Woolsey was among the first women to be accepted for nurse's training and assigned to duty by Dorothea Dix. By September of that year, Georgy and Eliza were serving in a makeshift hospital in an unfinished government building. Georgy described how they used rough wood scaffolding for beds, with as many as six men in each one. The beds were so high that long broom handles had to be used to support them. Very sick men were given individual beds on piles of marble slabs originally intended for building construction. Until further work was done on the building, pulleys raised food and water to the ersatz hospital's upper floors.

The three sisters served in numerous capacities, both in hospitals and on military hospital transport ships. Jane and Georgy were assistant superintendents of the U.S. Army hospital at Portsmouth Grove, R.I. The two also served at Hammond General Hospital. They were paid $12 a month and immediately returned the compensation to the surgeon-in-charge to purchase items for the patients. Eliza returned to private life when her husband, Colonel Joseph Howland, was wounded and mustered out of service.

Like Hannah Ropes, the three Woolsey women used their prominent social position to obtain prodigious amounts of supplies and other necessities for the wounded. At one point, Georgy personally delivered to the White House a letter she had written to President Lincoln, imploring him to send chaplains to the military hospitals. He promptly named seven new chaplains.

Georgy was noted for her cool demeanor, in times of emergency. Jane wrote of her: 'There was never a critical case in the hospital on which Georgy's intelligence was not brought to bear in some shape.' Ever alert for ways to make patients more comfortable and their care more efficient, she kept her apron pockets filled with forks, spoons, corkscrews and other useful items. Both sisters carried notebooks in which they re-corded individual patient needs and wishes. Georgy carefully noted the names and addresses of the dying for later use in returning their possessions to their families.

Both Jane and Georgy Woolsey depicted wartime hospital life in sensitive and enduring writings. Jane's book, Hospital Days, published in 1868, enjoyed wide readership. In it she quotes an unnamed officer's view of the Civil War nurse: 'She may be totally impervious to ideas of order; she may love 'hugger-mugger' and hand-to-mouth ways of getting at direct objects; she may hopelessly muddle the ward returns, and interchange sentiment with the most obnoxious of the stewards, but she will cheerfully sacrifice time, ease, and health to the wants or whims of a wounded man.'

After the war, Georgy Woolsey assisted in establishing the Connecticut Training School for Nurses in New Haven. She also wrote a nursing handbook that was only the second of its kind to be published in the United States. Jane and another sister, Abby, played pioneer roles in developing enlightened methods of nursing in civilian hospitals.

Among the church leaders who answered the humanitarian call during the war, none responded with more fervor or professional gifts than Mother Angela (Eliza Maria Gillespie), founder of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. The daughter of a respected Pennsylvania attorney and landowner, she numbered General Sherman, a senator, and an assortment of other leaders among her relatives. When war broke out, she was the director of St. Mary's Academy at Notre Dame University.

Early in the conflict, when General Grant sent a plea for nurses to Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton, Mother Angela left immediately with a group of sisters. Grant later described her to Sherman as 'a woman of rare charm of manner, unusual ability, and exceptional executive talents.'

The sisters were first sent to Paducah, Ky., where the surgeons initially received them coolly. The doctors, however, soon came to appreciate both the useful services the women were performing and the military precision with which Mother Angela organized them.

The demoralizing hospital diet of rancid pork and stale bread was quickly replaced by rice, eggs, milk and chicken that Mother Angela procured and prepared herself. At one point, she had 60 nuns helping her care for 1,400 men at Mound City, which was regarded as the best military hospital in the country at the time.

Mother Angela employed her family connections and social skills to obtain supplies where even high-ranking military officers failed. William H. Osborn, president of the Illinois Central Railroad, gave her food, wine and free passes for wounded men who were being sent home. Asked by Secretary of War Cameron to take charge of a hospital at Cairo, she charmed representatives of various commissions and aid societies into backing her efforts. On one occasion, she entertained a weary visitor with tea brewed on her single, makeshift burner and served in a tin cup. Upon returning home, he sent her a six-burner stove and other supplies on the next train.

True to her faith, Mother Angela served Union and Confederate soldiers with equal devotion. Once, a seriously wounded Confederate officer was brought to Mound City. When word got around, an angry mob stormed the hospital, determined to drag the officer out and execute him. But Mother Angela stood over his bed and refused to leave until the Confederate had been guaranteed safe passage home. In September 1862, Mother Angela returned to St. Mary's Academy, assured that the soldiers' needs would be met from other sources.

Harriet Tubman was best known among the many blacks who rendered distinguished service as Civil War nurses. Famed for her courageous exploits with the Underground Railroad, she was admired by many leaders of the time, including Secretary of State William Seward and New England poet Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Early in the war, Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew asked Tubman to help nurse in the military camps. She moved from one camp to another throughout the war, using her nursing skills and extensive knowledge of the healing properties of roots and herbs. Tubman rarely accepted the military rations that were offered to her, preferring to support herself by making baked goods and selling them in the camps. She gave any extra money to the freedmen who often sought refuge in the camps. Late in life, she was awarded a military pension, and when she died in 1913, she was given a military funeral.

A record of Civil War nursing from the black viewpoint was left by Susie King Taylor in her Reminiscences of My Life in Camp. Taylor was born a slave on the Isle of Wight near Savannah, Ga. In adolescence she learned to read and write at a clandestine school run by a free black woman. Marrying Edward King, she followed him when he joined the Union Army's first black regiment, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers. In camp she nursed the wounded, did laundry, cooked and taught the men literacy skills.

Taylor became a protege of Clara Barton, who often took her along on hospital rounds. Taylor admired Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, whom she described as 'kind and devoted to his men' and 'a genial presence.' In her book she also recalled Colonel C.T. Trowbridge. 'He was the very first officer to take charge of black soldiers,' she wrote. 'We thought there was no one like him, for he was a 'man' among his soldiers....I shall never forget his friendship and kindness toward me....No officer in the army was ever more beloved.'

Taylor's book is filled with details of camp hospital life. She recalled making custard of milk and turtle eggs for the wounded in a camp on Morris Island, and she described warming her tent at night with an iron frying pan full of coals from the cook shed. She noted that fleas often kept her awake all night.

Taylor served for four years and three months in Union Army hospitals without receiving either pay or a formal appointment. After the war, she was granted no government pension or recognition for her nursing services. Still, she wrote, 'I was glad...to go with the regiment, to care for the sick and afflicted comrades.'

Taylor summed up the attitude of volunteer Civil War nurses of both races when she observed: 'It seems strange how our aversion to seeing suffering is overcome in war,-how we are able to see the most sickening sights, such as men with their limbs blown off and mangled by the deadly shells, without a shudder, and instead of turning away, how we hurry to assist in alleviating their pain, bind up their wounds, and press the cool water to their parched lips, with feelings only of sympathy and pity.'

The nurses of the Civil War left a heritage far beyond a country's gratitude for bodies salvaged and spirits renewed. Observing the difference they had made, both the public and the medical community finally came to recognize nursing as a legitimate profession. Women such as the Woolseys and Clara Barton translated their experience in Civil War hospitals into reforms in both nursing science and the education of nurses. As Jane Woolsey noted in Hospital Days, 'It has been a tiresome march, but think of the results.'

This article was written by Alice P. Stein and originally appeared in the September 1999 issue of America's Civil War. For more great articles be sure to pick up your copy of America's Civil War.

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Information and Articles About Civil War Nurses, one of the many roles filled by women of the civil war Civil War Nurses summary: Thousands of women served as volunteer nurses during the Civil War. There is very little written record of their service though a few of the more famous names left accounts, including Louisa [...]

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This website was used for multiple resources regarding the American Civil War. It provides both the popular voices heard during the time period such as Lincoln and Davis, as well as the unheard voice perspectives, such as nurses, black soldiers, and women. It provides videos, articles, photos, and statistics that are clear and created with viewers in mind. The videos are explanatory without being overbearing, and the graphics will grab students’ attention. The site shows both sides, from the before the war to after. Students can search around the section for more information than they know what to do with, so teachers will want to guide where specifically students should look for information.

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In many ways, the coming of the Civil War challenged the ideology of Victorian domesticity that had defined the lives of men and women in the antebellum era. In the North and in the South, the war forced women into public life in ways they could scarcely have imagined a generation before.

Background

In the years before the Civil War, the lives of American women were shaped by a set of ideals that historians call "the Cult of True Womanhood." As men's work moved away from the home and into shops, offices and factories, the household became a new kind of place: a private, feminized domestic sphere, a "haven in a heartless world." "True women" devoted their lives to creating a clean, comfortable, nurturing home for their husbands and children.

Did you know? More than 400 women disguised themselves as men and fought in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War.

During the Civil War, however, American women turned their attention to the world outside the home. Thousands of women in the North and South joined volunteer brigades and signed up to work as nurses. It was the first time in American history that women played a significant role in a war effort. By the end of the war, these experiences had expanded many Americans' definitions of "true womanhood."

Fighting for the Union

With the outbreak of war in 1861, women and men alike eagerly volunteered to fight for the cause. In the Northern states, women organized ladies' aid societies to supply the Union troops with everything they needed, from food (they baked and canned and planted fruit and vegetable gardens for the soldiers) to clothing (they sewed and laundered uniforms, knitted socks and gloves, mended blankets and embroidered quilts and pillowcases) to cash (they organized door-to-door fundraising campaigns, county fairs and performances of all kinds to raise money for medical supplies and other necessities).

But many women wanted to take a more active role in the war effort. Inspired by the work of Florence Nightingale and her fellow nurses in the Crimean War, they tried to find a way to work on the front lines, caring for sick and injured soldiers and keeping the rest of the Union troops healthy and safe.

In June 1861, they succeeded: The federal government agreed to create "a preventive hygienic and sanitary service for the benefit of the army" called the United States Sanitary Commission. The Sanitary Commission's primary objective was to combat preventable diseases and infections by improving conditions (particularly "bad cookery" and bad hygiene) in army camps and hospitals. It also worked to provide relief to sick and wounded soldiers. By war's end, the Sanitary Commission had provided almost $15 million in supplies-the vast majority of which had been collected by women-to the Union Army.

Nearly 20,000 women worked more directly for the Union war effort. Working-class white women and free and enslaved African-American women worked as laundresses, cooks and "matrons," and some 3,000 middle-class white women worked as nurses. The activist Dorothea Dix, the superintendent of Army nurses, put out a call for responsible, maternal volunteers who would not distract the troops or behave in unseemly or unfeminine ways: Dix insisted that her nurses be "past 30 years of age, healthy, plain almost to repulsion in dress and devoid of personal attractions." (One of the most famous of these Union nurses was the writer Louisa May Alcott.)

Army nurses traveled from hospital to hospital, providing "humane and efficient care for wounded, sick and dying soldiers." They also acted as mothers and housekeepers-"havens in a heartless world"-for the soldiers under their care.

Women of the Confederacy

White women in the South threw themselves into the war effort with the same zeal as their Northern counterparts. The Confederacy had less money and fewer resources than did the Union, however, so they did much of their work on their own or through local auxiliaries and relief societies. They, too, cooked and sewed for their boys. They provided uniforms, blankets, sandbags and other supplies for entire regiments. They wrote letters to soldiers and worked as untrained nurses in makeshift hospitals. They even cared for wounded soldiers in their homes.

Many Southern women, especially wealthy ones, relied on slaves for everything and had never had to do much work. However, even they were forced by the exigencies of wartime to expand their definitions of "proper" female behavior.

Slaves and Freedwomen

Slave women were, of course, not free to contribute to the Union cause. Moreover, they had never had the luxury of "true womanhood" to begin with: As one historian pointed out, "being a women never saved a single female slave from hard labor, beatings, rape, family separation, and death." The Civil War promised freedom, but it also added to these women's burden. In addition to their own plantation and household labor, many slave women had to do the work of their husbands and partners too: The Confederate Army frequently impressed male slaves, and slaveowners fleeing from Union troops often took their valuable male slaves, but not women and children, with them. (Working-class white women had a similar experience: While their husbands, fathers and brothers fought in the Army, they were left to provide for their families on their own.)

A Women's Proper Place?

During the Civil War, women especially faced a host of new duties and responsibilities. For the most part, these new roles applied the ideals of Victorian domesticity to "useful and patriotic ends." However, these wartime contributions did help expand many women's ideas about what their "proper place" should be.

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In many ways, the coming of the Civil War challenged the ideology of Victorian domesticity that had defined the lives of men and women in the antebellum era. In the North and in the South, the war forced women into public life in ways they could scarcely have imagined a generation before.

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In September of 1864, as the American Civil War approached its conclusion, a slave-turned-soldier named Spotswood Rice wrote the following furious letter to his former owner, Katherine Diggs, and sternly warned her that she would soon be seeing him again: he was returning to Missouri, together with a thousand-strong army of black soldiers, to rescue his still-enslaved children. His anger is almost palpable.

Indeed, Spotswood Rice was reunited with his family some months later, although it's unknown whether a showdown with Diggs occurred. Interestingly, Mary, the daughter mentioned in the letter, was interviewed as part of the Federal Writers' Project in 1937.

Transcript follows.

( Source: National Archives, via Jeremy Higgins - c lick on the images below for larger versions; Image above, of Company E, 4th United States Colored Infantry in 1864, via Wikipedia.)

September 3, 1864

Spotswood Rice to Kittey Diggs

I received a leteter from Cariline telling me that you say I tried to steal to plunder my child away from you now I want you to understand that mary is my Child and she is a God given rite of my own and you may hold on to hear as long as you can but I want you to remembor this one thing that the longor you keep my Child from me the longor you will have to burn in hell and the qwicer youll get their for we are now makeing up a bout one thoughsand blacke troops to Come up tharough and wont to come through Glasgow and when we come wo be to Copperhood rabbels and to the Slaveholding rebbels for we dont expect to leave them there root near branch but we thinke how ever that we that have Children in the hands of you devels we will trie your vertues the day that we enter Glasgow I want you to understand kittey diggs that where ever you and I meets we are enmays to each orthere I offered once to pay you forty dollers for my own Child but I am glad now that you did not accept it Just hold on now as long as you can and the worse it will be for you you never in you life befor I came down hear did you give Children any thing not eny thing whatever not even a dollers worth of expencs now you call my children your pro[per]ty not so with me my Children is my own and I expect to get them and when I get ready to come after mary I will have bout a powrer and autherity to bring hear away and to exacute vengencens on them that holds my Child you will then know how to talke to me I will assure that and you will know how to talk rite too I want you now to just hold on to hear if you want to iff your conchosence tells thats the road go that road and what it will brig you to kittey diggs I have no fears about geting mary out of your hands this whole Government gives chear to me and you cannot help your self

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In September of 1864, as the American Civil War approached its conclusion, a slave-turned-soldier named Spotswood Rice wrote the following furious letter to his former owner, Katherine Diggs, and sternly warned her that she would soon be seeing him again: he was returning to Missouri, together with a thousand-strong army of black soldiers, to rescue his still-enslaved children.

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Preserving the Legacy of the United States Colored Troops

By Budge Weidman

The compiled military service records of the men who served with the United States Colored Troops (USCT) during the Civil War number approximately 185,000, including the officers who were not African American. This major collection of records rests in the stacks of the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA). They are little used, and their content is largely undiscovered. Since the time of the American Revolution, African Americans have volunteered to serve their country in time of war. The Civil War was no exception-official sanction was the difficulty.

In the fall of 1862 there were at least three Union regiments of African Americans raised in New Orleans, Louisiana: the First, Second, and Third Louisiana Native Guard. These units later became the First, Second, and Third Infantry, Corps d'Afrique, and then the Seventy-third, Seventy-fourth, and Seventy-fifth United States Colored Infantry (USCI). The First South Carolina Infantry (African Descent) was not officially organized until January 1863; however, three companies of the regiment were on coastal expeditions as early as November 1862. They would become the Thirty-third USCI. Similarly, the First Kansas Colored Infantry (later the Seventy-ninth [new] USCI) was not mustered into service until January 1863, even though the regiment had already participated in the action at Island Mound, Missouri, on October 27, 1862. These early unofficial regiments received little federal support, but they showed the strength of African Americans' desire to fight for freedom.

The first official authorization to employ African Americans in federal service was the Second Confiscation and Militia Act of July 17, 1862. This act allowed President Abraham Lincoln to receive into the military service persons of African descent and gave permission to use them for any purpose "he may judge best for the public welfare." However, the President did not authorize use of African Americans in combat until issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863: "And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service." With these words the Union army changed.

In late January 1863, Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts received permission to raise a regiment of African American soldiers. This was the first black regiment to be organized in the North. The pace of organizing additional regiments, however, was very slow. In an effort to change this, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton sent Gen. Lorenzo Thomas to the lower Mississippi valley in March to recruit African Americans. Thomas was given broad authority. He was to explain the administration's policy regarding these new recruits, and he was to find volunteers to raise and command them. Stanton wanted all officers of such units to be white, but that policy was softened to allow African American surgeons and chaplains. By the end of the war, there were at least eighty-seven African American officers in the Union army. Thomas's endeavor was very successful, and on May 22, 1863, the Bureau of Colored Troops was established to coordinate and organize regiments from all parts of the country. Created under War Department General Order No. 143, the bureau was responsible for handling "all matters relating to the organization of Colored Troops." The bureau was directly under the Adjutant General's Office, and its procedures and rules were specific and strict. All African American regiments were now to be designated United States Colored Troops (USCT). At this time there were some African American regiments with state names and a few regiments in the Department of the Gulf designated as Corps d'Afrique. All these were ultimately assimilated into the USCT, even though a small number of the regiments retained their state designations.

The Project

In February 1994, NARA began a pilot project to test procedures to arrange the compiled service records of Union volunteers prior to microfilming. This effort was made in conjunction with the National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS). The CWSS is a computerized database identifying combatants from the Union and the Confederacy. The data will include the name of the soldier or sailor and the regiment or ship to which he belonged. In addition, the system will identify the battles in which the named soldier's or sailor's unit participated. When this database is completed, it will be installed at the major Civil War sites operated by the Park Service. The CWSS will refer the park visitor to NARA for further documentation and information on Civil War participants.

The first index to be released by the National Park Service is that of the United States Colored Troops. This list of names will be available at the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C., as well as at NPS battlefield sites. The memorial is due for completion in the fall of 1997. When this monument is completed and the CWSS is in place, it is anticipated that there will be an increase in requests for the records of the USCT. Every new movie or television program about the Civil War period triggers a substantial rise in mail, telephone, and walk-in requests to NARA. To answer these demands in an era of downsizing, NARA created the Civil War Conservation Corps (CWCC). The CWCC is a volunteer project operating with over fifty private citizens who are members of the National Archives Volunteer Association. This group is opening and chronologically arranging the compiled service records of each soldier who became a USCT volunteer. This is the first part of a larger project to microfilm all the records of Civil War Union volunteer soldiers. NARA's collection of Confederate military service records is already available on microfilm.

The Records

The CWCC volunteers have brought to light records that reveal fascinating details and stories behind the names of the soldiers of the USCT. Samuel Cabble, for example, a private in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry (colored) was a slave before he joined the army. He was twenty-one years old. Among the documents in his file was the following letter:

Dear Wife i have enlisted in the army i am now in the state of Massachusetts but before this letter reaches you i will be in North Carlinia and though great is the present national dificulties yet i look forward to a brighter day When i shall have the opertunity of seeing you in the full enjoyment of fredom i would like to no if you are still in slavery if you are it will not be long before we shall have crushed the system that now opreses you for in the course of three months you shall have your liberty. great is the outpouring of the colered peopl that is now rallying with the hearts of lions against that very curse that has seperated you an me yet we shall meet again and oh what a happy time that will be when this ungodly rebellion shall be put down and the curses of our land is trampled under our feet i am a soldier now and i shall use my utmost endeavor to strike at the rebellion and the heart of this system that so long has kept us in chains . . . remain your own afectionate husband until death-Samuel Cabble

The letter was in Cabble's file with an application for compensation signed by his former owner. It was used as proof that his owner had offered Samuel for enlistment.

Such manumission documents are unique to the records of the USCT. To facilitate recruiting in the states of Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky, the War Department issued General Order No. 329 on October 3, 1863. Section 6 of the order stated that if any citizen should offer his or her slave for enlistment into the military service, that person would, "if such slave be accepted, receive from the recruiting officer a certificate thereof, and become entitled to compensation for the service or labor of said slave, not exceeding the sum of three hundred dollars, upon filing a valid deed of manumission and of release, and making satisfactory proof of title." For this reason, records of manumission are contained in the compiled service records. Some documents contain well-known names. Several slaves belonging to Susanna Mudd, a relative of Dr. Samuel Mudd, enlisted in the Union army. Required evidence included title to the slave and loyalty to the Union government. Further, every owner signed an oath of allegiance to the government of the United States. Each statement was witnessed and certified.

The CWCC has also discovered five photographs, a rare find in the military records. Each picture depicts wounds received by the soldier. One such soldier was Pvt. Louis Martin of the Twenty-ninth USCI. The photograph was glued to his certificate of disability for discharge and shows amputation of his right arm and left leg. He participated in the battle known as "The Crater" at Petersburg, Virginia, on July 30, 1864, and received shell and gunshot wounds while charging the enemy's works. Further study of the service record leads the researcher to Private Martin's pension file, where an additional photograph is found.

The story of Garland White appears in the records of the Twenty-eighth USCI. He was a slave belonging to Robert Toombs of Georgia. White, who was literate, studied to become a minister while still a slave. According to documents in his file, he was licensed and "authorized to preach the Gospel" on September 10, 1859, in Washington, Georgia. In 1860 Toombs, with White as a house servant, was living in Washington, D.C. The Toombs's residence was two doors away from William Seward's, at the time a senator from New York. It is apparent from correspondence in his record that White enjoyed a friendly relationship with Seward.

During his time in Washington, White became a fugitive and made his way to Canada. According to his records, he was appointed to the "Pastorial Charge of London mission. The said mission being under the jurisdiction of the B. M. E. Annual Conference." It is not known how long he stayed in Canada, but he was very aware of the Civil War and knew that Seward was President Lincoln's secretary of state. He wrote to him from Canada and told him of his desire to serve his country in any way he could. Garland White returned to the United States (the exact date is not known) and began recruiting for the new USCT. He went to New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Indiana. He raised most of the men of the Twenty-eighth USCI. He petitioned Seward for help in obtaining the chaplaincy of the regiment. In his letter to Seward, White wrote, "I also joined the regiment as a private to be with my boys and should I fail to get my commission I shall willingly serve my time out."

On September 1, 1864, the Field and Company Officers elected Garland H. White chaplain of the Twenty-eighth USCI, subject to the approval of the secretary of war. On October 25, by order of the secretary of war, Garland H. White was appointed chaplain of the Twenty-eighth USCI. He was thirty-five years old. All the previous correspondence was found in his compiled military service record.

Among the documents in the compiled service records are many letters from mothers and wives. They detail hardship, illness, and most of all, lack of money. They are sometimes written by the sender and sometimes dictated, but all indicate the suffering war brought to everyone, especially the families of the African American soldier. Such suffering is evident in the pleas of Rebecca Barrett to her son, William, of the Seventy-fourth USCI.

My Dear Son
It is with pleasure I now embrace the opportunity of penning you a few lines to inform you that I am received your most welcomed letter for I had despaired of your writing. We are both sick pap is prostrated on his bed and has been so for three months and three weeks he got a little better but it did not last long I am very sorry that you have enlisted again for I wanted to see you once more You say you will send me some money do my son for God sake for I am needy at this time the Doctors are so dear that it takes all you can make to pay thier bill I work when I am able but that is so seldom God only knows what I will [do] this winter for I dont. Everything is two prices and one meal cost as much a[s] three used to cost when the rich grumble God help the poor for it is a true saying that (poverty is no disgrace but very unhandy) and I find it very unhandy for if ever a poor soul was poverty stricken I am one and My son if you ever thought of your poor old mother God Grant you may think of her now for this is a needy time. No more but remain Your mother Rebecca Barrat

From Letty Barnes to her husband, Joshua, of the Thirty-eighth USCI:

My dear husband
I have just this evening received your letter sent me by Fredrick Finich you can imagin how anxious and worry I had become about you. And so it seems that all can get home once in awhile to see and attend to their familey but you I do really think it looks hard your poor old Mother is hear delving and working like a dog to try to keep soul and body together and here am I with to little children and myself to support and not one soul or one dollar to help us I do think if your officers could see us they would certanly let you come home and bring us a little money.

She continues in this vein enumerating the various hardships the family is enduring. At the end of her letter she writes lovingly:

I have sent you a little keepsake in this letter which you must prize for my sake it is a set of Shirt Bossom Buttons whenever you look at them think of me and know that I am always looking and wishing for you write to me as soon as you receive this let me know how you like them and when you are coming home and beleave me as ever
Your devoted wife
Letty Barnes

Joshua Barnes received his buttons and was granted leave to visit his family. William Barrett did send his mother some money. Garland White survived the war and lived with his family in North Carolina. Samuel Cabble returned to Missouri for his wife, and together they moved to Denver, Colorado.

The compiled service records of the United States Colored Troops must not be overlooked when researching African Americans. The letters here are a small sample to be found in this important collection. They are a physical link to the Civil War era, and they bring to life the service of the African American soldier. As each jacket is arranged and prepared for microfilming, we come one step closer to bringing attention to a major group of unexplored records.

© 1997 by Budge Weidman

Note: All letters and quotations are transcribed as they were originally written and are from the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917, Record Group 94.

Ms. Budge Weidman is a National Archives volunteer. She has served as the project manager for the Civil War Conservation Corps since October, 1994.
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Preserving the Legacy of the United States Colored Troops By Budge Weidman The compiled military service records of the men who served with the United States Colored Troops (USCT) during the Civil War number approximately 185,000, including the officers who were not African American.

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American Civil War - New World Encyclopedia

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The watershed event of United States history was the American Civil War (1861-1865), fought in North America within the territory of the United States of America, between 24 mostly northern states of the Union and the Confederate States of America, a coalition of eleven southern states that declared their independence and claimed the right of secession from the Union in 1860-1861.

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Be sure to explore the tabs within this source!

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American Civil War From Sumter to Surrender at Appomattox

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American Civil War history with slideshows,photos,music,major battles like Gettysburg as well as personalities like Lincoln, Grant, Lee and the Black Regiments

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The Union included the states of Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. Abraham Lincoln was their President.

The Confederacy included the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Jefferson Davis was their President.

Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri were called Border States.

HOMEFRONT Finance
On the homefront, the Union had $234,000,000 in bank deposit and coined money or specie while the Confederacy had $74,000,000 and the Border States had $29,000,000.
Populations
The population of the Union was 18.5 million. In the Confederacy, the population was listed as 5.5 million free and 3.5 million enslaved. In the Border States there were 2.5 million free inhabitants and 500,000 enslaved people.
Agriculture
With the exception of rice and tobacco, the Union had a clear agricultural advantage. Particularly horses: the Union had twice that of the Confederacy, 3.4 million to the CSA's 1.7.

The Union led corn production with 400 million bushels compared to the 250 million bushels in the Confederacy and 150 million bushels in the Border States.

The Confederacy produced nearly all of the nation's rice which amounted to 225 million bushels.

The Confederacy led tobacco production with 225 million pounds compared to 110 million pounds produced in the Border States and 50 million pounds produced in the Union.

The Union led wheat production with 100 million bushels produced in comparison to 35 million bushels in the Confederacy and 20 million bushels in the Border States.

The Union was attributed with having 40 million heads of livestock compared to 35 million in the Confederacy and only 10 million in the Border States.
Industry
The Union had 101,000 factories, while the Confederacy had 21,000 and the Border States had 9,000.

The Union had 1.1 million factory workers, while the Confederacy had 111,000 and the Border States had 70,000.

The Union had 20,000 miles of railroad compared to 9,000 in the Confederacy and 1,700 in the Border States.
MILITARY Enlistment Strength
Enlistment strength for the Union Army is 2,672,341 which can be broken down as:

Enlistment strength for the Confederate Army ranges from 750,000 to 1,227,890. Soldier demographics for the Confederate Army are not available due to incomplete and destroyed enlistment records.
Civilian Occupations
Farmers comprised 48 percent of the civilian occupations in the Union. Others included mechanics, 24 percent; laborers, 16 percent; commercial, 5 percent; miscellaneous, 4 percent; and professional occupations, 3 percent.

Farmers comprised 69 percent of the civilian occupations in the Confederacy. Others included laborers, 9 percent; mechanics, 5.3 percent; commercial, 5 percent; professional occupations, 2.1 percent; and miscellaneous, 1.6 percent.
Bloodiest Battles
The bloodiest battles of the Civil War were:

Note: Antietam had the greatest number of casualties of any single-day battle.
Troop Strength
In July 1861, the two armies were nearly equal in strength with less than 200,000 soldiers on each side; however at the peak of troop strength in 1863, Union soldiers outnumbered Confederate soldiers by a ratio of 2 to 1. The size of Union forces in January 1863 totaled over 600,000. Two years later, that number had not changed dramatically for the Union Army but had dropped to about 200,000 for the Confederate Army.
Casualties
The 642,427 total Union casualties have been divided accordingly:

The 483,026 total Confederate casualties have been divided accordingly:
Prisoners
Of the 211,411 Union soldiers captured 16,668 were paroled on the field and 30,218 died in prison. Of the 462,634 Confederate soldiers captured 247,769 were paroled on the field and 25,976 died in prison. The mortality rate for prisoners of war was 15.5 percent for Union soldiers and 12 percent for Confederate soldiers.

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Facts - The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)

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The Union included the states of Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. Abraham Lincoln was their President. The Confederacy included the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.

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This website was used for multiple resources regarding the American Civil War. It provides both the popular voices heard during the time period such as Lincoln and Davis, as well as the unheard voice perspectives, such as nurses, black soldiers, and women. It provides videos, articles, photos, and statistics that are clear and created with viewers in mind. The videos are explanatory without being overbearing, and the graphics will grab students’ attention. The site shows both sides, from the before the war to after. Students can search around the section for more information than they know what to do with, so teachers will want to guide where specifically students should look for information.

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Secession - American Civil War - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Secession, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com