About the Book
A rare first-hand glimpse of the Civil War through the words of those who were there
This exciting new addition to the American Heritage American Voices series offers young readers insights into the culture and ideas of the Civil War era through a variety of primary sources. The book includes major historical documents, such as the Gettysburg Address, as well as more personalized accounts of the war and of the popular culture of the times found in diaries, advertisements, and magazine and newspaper articles. Throughout, the readings are supplemented by introductions, period illustrations, sidebar information, and vocabularies.
David C. King (Hillsdale, NY) is the author of Wiley's American Kids in History series of U.S. history activity books as well as Colonies and Revolution and Westward Expansion in the American Heritage American Voices series. American Heritage is the premier American history magazine and is well known for its reference books.
Table of Contents:
Introduction to the AmericanHeritage® American Voices Series. Introduction to Civil War and Reconstruction.
PART I: North and South Drift Apart.
The Life of a Slave.
From Solomon Northrup’s Twelve Years a Slave, 1853.
Slavery: Voices in Opposition.
From Theodore Weld’s American Slavery As It Is, 1839.
A Northern Mill Worker’s Thoughts.
From the Lowell Offering, c. 1843.
Nat Turner’s Revolt.
From the Richmond Enquirer, "24th August, 1831, 3 O’clock".
From the Liberator, September 3, 1831.
The Amistad Affair.
From Kale’s Letter to John Quincy Adams, January 4, 1841.
PART II: The Deepening Crisis.
1850: The Last Compromise.
From Senator Henry Clay’s Compromise& amp; #160;Speech, February 5, 1850.
From Senator John C. Calhoun’s Answer for the South, March 4, 1850.
From Senator Daniel Webster’s Speech for Compromise, March 7, 1850.
The Fugitive Slave Act.
From a Speech by Frederick Douglass, August 1852.
From Charles E. Stevens’s Eyewitness Account, June 1854.
The Underground Railroad.
From Levi Coffin’s Recollections, c. 1850.
From Henry "Box" Brown’s Account, c. 1852.
From William Still's Account of Harriet Tubman, c. 1870.
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
From Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852.
From the Last Chapter of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852.
Bleeding Kansas.
From Julia Lovejoy’s Letter to a New Hampshire Newspaper, September 5, 1856.
The Dred Scott Decision.
From Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s Opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford, March 1857.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
From Lincoln's "House Divided" Speech, 1858.
From Stephen Douglas’s Response to Lincoln, 1858.
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry.
From a Telegraphed News Dispatch from Baltimore, October 17, 1859.
John Brown’s Prediction, December 2, 1859.
The Election of 1860: Two Presidents.
From William Russell’s Diary, 1863.
From Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Sketches,” 1862.
PART III: The War Begins.
On the Eve of War.
From George Ticknor’s Letter to an English Friend, April 21, 1861.
From Paul Burns’s Letter to a Missouri Friend, June 1861.
Fort Sumter: The Opening Shots.
From the Marietta (Ohio) Home News Extra, April 13, 1861.
From the Memoirs of Captain Abner Doubleday, April 1861.
Brother against Brother, Family against Family.
From Theodore Upson’s Recollections, 1861.
The First Battle of Bull Run.
From Dr. Nott’s Letter to a Friend, July 23, 1861.
From the Account by William H. Russell, July 1861.
PART IV: Stalemate East and West.
Experiencing War Firsthand.
From the Recollections of Warren Lee Goss, 1890.
From the Memoirs of Major Abner R. Small, 1861.
The First Campaign for Richmond.
From the Recollections of Alexander Hunter, 1862.
The Military Leaders.
General George B. McClellan.
From General McClellan’s Dispatches to Washington, D.C., 1862.
General Robert E. Lee.
From General Law’s Account of Robert E. Lee, 1862.
General J. E. B. (Jeb) Stuart.
From the Observations of Sallie Putnam, June 1862.
General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
From Robert L. Dabney’s, The Life and Campaigns of Lt. General Thomas J. Jackson, 1866.
General Ulysses S. Grant.
From the New York Daily Tribune, 1885.
Camp Life.
From Lawrence Van Alstyne’s Diary, September 1862.
A Civil War Song.
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” February 1862.
Two Women Spies.
From Rose O’Neal Greenhow’s Diary, March 1862.
From the New York Herald, August 1862.
Horace Greeley versus President Lincoln.
Lincoln’s Reply to Greeley, August 1862.
Antietam: The Bloodiest Day.
From Union Major Rufus Dawes’s Memoirs, 1862.
From General John B. Gordon’s Reminiscences, 1862.
The Emancipation Proclamation.
From Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862.
African Americans in the War.
From Charlotte Forten’s Diary, January 1863.
From Lewis Douglass’s Letter to His Fiancée, July 1863.
PART V: The Turning of the Tide.
The Battle of Fredericksburg.
From Confederate William Owens’s Account, December 1862.
From the Memoirs of Union Major Frederick Hitchcock, December 13, 1862.
The Campaign for Vicksburg.
From the Memoirs of Brigadier General Frederick Dent Grant, 1863.
From an Anonymous Account by a Confederate Soldier, May 1863.
The Battle of Gettysburg.
From the Recollections of Augustus Buell, July 1, 1863.
Pickett’s Charge.
From General James Longstreet’s Memoirs, July 1863.
From Arthur J. L. Freemantle’s Account, July 1863.
The Aftermath: Southern Gloom, Northern Cheers.
From the Diary of General Josiah Gorgas, July 28, 1863.
From William Lusk’s Letter, July 7, 1863.
The Gettysburg Address.
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.
Hospitals and Medical Care.
From the Diary of Louisa May Alcott, January 4, 1863.
Clara Barton: Angel of the Battlefield.
From Clara Barton’s War Diary, 1864.
Prison Hell: Escape from Andersonville.
From John L. Ransom’s Diary, 1864.
PART VI: The Fall of the Confederacy.
Grant, Sherman, and Total War.
From the Memoirs of Private Warren Goss, May 1864.
From the Memoirs of Horace Porter, May 1864.
Sherman’s Campaign in Georgia.
From the Journal of Eliza Andrews, December 1864.
Surrender at Appomattox.
From General Grant’s Memoirs, April 9, 1865.
From Mary Boykin Chesnut’s Diary, April 19, 1865.
PART VII: Restoring the Union.
New Rights for African Americans.
From Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery, 1872.
Restoring Southern Control in the South.
From Scribner’s Monthly, August 1875.
Sources.
Index.
About the Author :
AMERICAN HERITAGE is well-known for its magazine on American history, as well as its many highly acclaimed books, including The American Heritage® History of the United States and The American Heritage® Illustrated History of the Presidents. DAVID C. KING is former history teacher and an award-winning author who has written more than thirty books for children and young adults, including the other books in this series as well as the American Kids in History® series.
AMERICAN HERITAGE is well-known for its magazine on American history, as well as its many highly acclaimed books, including The American Heritage® History of the United States and The American Heritage® Illustrated History of the Presidents. DAVID C. KING is former history teacher and an award-winning author who has written more than thirty books for children and young adults, including the other books in this series as well as the American Kids in History® series.
