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US Military History: US Civil War

This guide is for use with military history courses taught at University of Wyoming, specifically HIST 2020: US Military History.

Overview

The US Civil War from 1861-1865 was a conflict that truly created the United States as a nation. There are many primary and secondary resources available through the UW Libraries, as well as many fantastic public websites.

Reference Books & Bibliographies

Novels & Narrative Nonfiction

Useful Library of Congress Subject Headings

Use the following to search in the Subject Headings of the UW Library Catalog to find books catalogued under the following headings.


United States History Civil War 1861 1865

United States Politics And Government 1861 1865

For specific battles, try searching by keyword or subject (e.g., Gettysburg Battle Of Gettysburg Pa 1863)

 

Recommended Scholarly Books

Primary Sources

Recommended Reading Lists on US Civil War

The following links are to recommended books on the US Civil War.

"The Best Civil War Books of All Time" (Civil War Monitor magazine)

"Drew Gilpen Faust Recommendations" (Five Books.com website - Faust is a historian and former Harvard University president)

"The Essentials - Six Books on the Civil War" (Smithsonian Magazine website)

"The Top 12 Civil War Books Ever Written" (Salon.com website)

"11 Best Books on the American Civil War" (The Daily Beast.com website)

 

All accessed on 11/16/2021.

 

Websites

Bibliographic Databases & Journals

Memoirs & Personal Journals

This link is to an excellent article on Encyclopedia.com. Many of the memoirs listed above are listed on this webpage, plus many others.