Reference Books on the Civil War
- Armies and Soldiers
- Genealogy
- General
- Government Documents
- Guides to Records in the National Archives
- Laws
- Maps
- Military Operations
- Personal Papers and Other Archival Collections
Many books about the Civil War are shelved in the Archives I Library in Library of Congress classifications E456-E655, U (military science), F (local history) or others.
NOTE: See the map of the Archives I Library, Room G-30 to find the location of the materials in the library.General
Current, Richard N., ed. in chief. Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993 (4 vols.) REF E 487 .E55 1993
Dornbusch, C. E., comp. Military Bibliography of the Civil War. New York: New York Public Library, 1971. (4 vols.)
REF Z 1242 .D61.
- Vol. I: lists the regimental publications and personal narratives for the Union Army and the dates mustered in and mustered out.
- Vol. II: regimental publications and personal narratives for units of both armies from the Confederate, border and western states.
- Vol III: general references, campaigns and battles.
- Vol. IV: regimental publications and personal narratives, brief Union and Confederate biographies. Indexes.
- Preliminary Inventories
- Microfilm Descriptive Pamplets (General)
- Microfilm Descriptive Pamplets (Compiled Service Records)
- Beers, Henry Putney. Guide to the Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America. Washington, D.C.: GSA, National Archives & Records Service, 1968.
REF CD 3047 .B4 1968 - Explains the organization of the Confederate government, and describes the kinds of records created and received by each agency or division. Each section opens with a historical statement of the functions and responsibilities of the branch of the Government or the department or agency concerned. Records of a general nature are described first, followed by separate descriptions of the records of subordinate bureaus or offices. Since these records were scattered after the war, the volume also includes records surveyed in the Library of Congress, in several large public and university libraries, and in the archives of the former Confederate states. There is an appendix listing the record groups which contain Confederate records, as well as an index.
- Munden, Kenneth W.; Beers, Henry Putney.
Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War. Washington, D.C.: GSA, National Archives & Records Service, 1962.
REF CD 3029.A8 M8 - Explains the organization of the Federal government during the Civil War, and describes the kinds of records created and received by each agency or division of the executive, legislative, & judicial branches. Each section opens with a historical statement of the functions and responsibilities of the branch of the Government or the department or agency concerned, with an emphasis on its wartime duties. Records of a general nature are described, followed by separate descriptions of the records of subordinate bureaus or offices. There is an appendix listing the record groups which contain records relating to the Civil War, as well as an index.
- Ross, Joseph B., comp. Tabular Analysis of the Records of the U.S. Colored Troops and their Predecessor Units in the National Archives of the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, General Service Administration, 1973.
REF CD 3022 .A35 no.33 - Showing kinds of records available for each unit (letters, memoranda, orders, reports, etc.)
- State Adjutant
Generals' Reports
-
Carroll, John M., intro. List of Staff Officers of the Confederate States Army, 1861-1865. Mattituck, NY: J.M. Carroll & Co., 1983.
E 545 .U5 - Carroll, John M., intro. List of Field Officers, Regiments, and Battalions in the Confederate States Army, 1861-1865. Mattituck, New York: J.M. Carroll and Co.,
1983.
REF E 548 .E8 1983 - Also lists regiments and battalions by state.
-
Hewett, Janet B., ed. The Roster of
Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865, v. 16. Wilmington: Broadfoot Publishing
Company, 1996.
REF E 548 .R67 1995
- Alphabetical list of Confederate soldiers and their units and companies.
- List of Pensioners on the Roll January 1,
1883. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1883.
5v.
- These books list the name, certificate number, post office address (i.e. town, etc.), the cause for
which the person was pensioned, the monthly rate, and the date of the original allowance. Some
allowances date back to the Civil War years.
- Reamy, Martha and William. Index to the Roll
of Honor. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1995.
REF E 494 .R653 R43 1995 - Sifakis, Stewart. Compendium of the Confederate
Armies. New York: Facts on File, 1992 (10 vols.).
REF E 546 .S58 1992 - Arranged by state. Entry for each military unit: nicknames or misdesignations; commanding
officers; information on organization and composition; campaigns and battles; suggested further
reading, if any.
- United States, War Department. Official Army
Register. Washington, D.C.: Adjutant General's Office, 1861.
W3 .11 - Listing of officers by unit.
-
United States, War Department. Official Army
Register of Volunteer Force of U.S. Army for Years 1861-1865. Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1865 (8 parts).
GOV DOCS W 3.12:1-8 - Published in 8 parts: 1) New England, 2) New York, New Jersey, 3) mid-Atlantic, 4) West
Virginia and Confederate states, 5) Ohio, Michigan, 6) Indiana, Illinois, 7) Missouri, Wisconsin,
Iowa, Minnesota, California, Kansas, Oregon, Nevada, 8) territories. Listing of military units,
with officers by rank or position; and individual deaths, promotions, transfers, desertions, missing
personnel, discharges; battles; enlisted men who received medals of honor. Alphabetical index in
back of each.
-
United States, War Department. Roll of Honor,
Quartermaster's Department. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1865
(27 parts).
GOV DOCS W 39.7:1.1-27 - Listings of Union Army personnel interred in military cemeteries, with ranks and military units. Most include black troops and unknown soldiers. Arranged by National Cemetery.
see also The Genealogy Page
Groene, Bertram Hawthorne. Tracing Your Civil War Ancestor. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989.
REF CD 3047 .G76 1989
Segars, J. H. In Search of Confederate Ancestors: The Guide. Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Southern Heritage Press, 1993.
REF F 208 .S44 1993
Government Documents
To find Congressional and Agency documents of the Civil War era use the Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-1909 (The 1909 Checklist) and the various Congressional Information Service Indexes in Room 204.
For more information on these and other indexes to government documents see Government Documents in the National Archives Library Laws
Confederate States of America. Acts and resolutions of the first-- session of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. 1861- (Laws, etc.).[Publisher varies], 1861-
NARA Library has 1st session, 1861-- 4th session, 1862 (see the librarian for location)
Confederate States of America. Provisional and permanent constitutions together with the Acts and resolutions of the first session of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, 1861. Montgomery, Ala. Shorter & Reid, printers and binders, 1861. (See the librarian for location)
Confederate States of America. War Dept. Regulations for the army of the Confederate States, for the Quartermaster's Department, including the pay branch thereof. Richmond, Ritchie & Dunnavant, Printers, 1861- NARA Library has 1861-1862 (See the librarian for location)
Lester, William Wharton and Bromwell, William Jeremy. A digest of the military and naval laws of the Confederate States, from the commencement of the Provisional congress to the end of the First Congress under the permanent constitution. Columbia S. C. Evans and Cogswell, 1864. (See the librarian for location)
The United States Statutes at Large
For Civil War Era laws of the Union
Maps
- Guide to Civil War Maps in the National
Archives. Washington, D.C.: GSA, National Archives and Records
Administration,1986.
Z 1242 .G85 1986 - Part I is a general guide to the approximately 8,000 Civil War maps in the Cartographic &
Architectural Branch; Part II describes selected maps of exceptional interest in more detail.
Index.
-
Stephenson, Richard W., comp. Civil War
Maps; An Annotated List of Maps and Atlases in the Library of Congress.
Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, 1989.
GOV DOCS LC 5.2:C49/1989 - Introductory text and many reproductions.
-
United States, War Department. Atlas to
Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1891 (2 vols.).
REF G 1201 .S5U6 1891 Index.
-
Aimone, Alan C.; Aimone, Barbara A. A User's
Guide to the Official Records of the American Civil War.Shippensburg, PA: White
Mane Publishing Co., 1993.
REF E 464 .A35 1993. - A guide to using the 128-volume set of The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official
Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, the Navies, and the Atlas, describing the history of
their compilation, and their organization and content. Several appendices include a list of sources,
Federal & Confederate government documents & reports relating to the Civil War, & an index to
principal events described in the Official Records.
- Dyer, Frederick Henry. Compendium of the War of
the Rebellion. New York: National Historical Society, 1979. (2 vols.)
REF E 491 .D8 1979 - A compilation of the records of the Union Army from the Official Records of the War of the
Rebellion and other records of the Federal & Confederate armies, reports of the adjutant generals
of the various states, army registers, and other sources. Part I contains statistical breakdowns;
Part II the records of campaigns, battles, skirmishes & important events and operations; Part III
the regimental histories. All description is at the regimental level.
- Irvine, Dallas, comp. Military Operations of the Civil War; a Guide-Index to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865. Washington, D.C.: Civil War Centennial Commission, 1966 (2 parts). REF E 470 . N3
- Explanation of the arrangement of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, with a short
description of the contents of volumes & chapters, including theatres of operation, a list of maps,
a list of principal military operations by state and date, and calendars and an almanac for the years
1861-1865.
- United States, Navy Department. Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,
1894 (30 vols.).
N 16.6 - Series 1: Reports, orders, correspondence of both sides relating to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
and inland waters with some maps and diagrams, arranged by squadron and flotilla, then
chronologically.
Series 2:- Vol I: Part 1, statistical data of Union and Confederate ships;
Part 2, muster rolls of Confederate vessels;
Part 3, letters of marque and reprisal;
Part 4, Confederate departmental investigations; - Vol. II: Confederate Navy Department correspondence 1861-65 with agents abroad;
- Vol. III: relating to Confederate diplomacy.
- Vol I: Part 1, statistical data of Union and Confederate ships;
- United States, Navy Department. Official Records of Union and Confederate
Navies in War of Rebellion; index Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,1927.
GOV DOCS N 16.6:Index. - United States, War Department.
War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1901 (128 vols.)
REF W 45.5. - United States, War Department. War of the Rebellion: A Compilation
of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; general index and additions and corrections
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1901.
GOV DOCS W 45.5:Index - Name and subject index for all 128 volumes of the War of the Rebellion; explanation of additions and corrections section in back of the volume; synopsis of the contents of each volume.
-
National Union Catalog of Manuscript
Collections
Washington, D.C., Library of Congress, 1959/1961--
REF Z 881 .A1 N3 (The library has a partial set at Archives 1. Additional volumes are at Archives 2. -
A locator for collections of personal papers including for example letters and diaries which are not
held by the National Archives and Records Administration.
-
Neagles, James C. Confederate Research
Sources: A Guide to Archive Collections. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Publishing,
1986.
REF CD 3047 .N4 - A guide for genealogists searching for an ancestor who fought for the Confederacy. It is divided
into sections for each Confederate state, border state or territory that supplied Confederate
troops, and includes for each state: information on the archives and its resources; a summary of
the war activities that took place; descriptions of the kinds of records found, including burial
records and pensions; and a listing of military units. There is also a section on the National
Archives, with advice on requesting records, hiring a professional researcher, or personal visits,
and describes pertinent record groups and their records.