North American Slave Narratives, from the Beginnings to the 1920's Put out by University of North Carolina, this is different from the sites that immediately follow, as it contains works published largely during the 19th century, written by those who had lived as slaves.

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 This site, from American Memory at the Library of Congress, contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves.

American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology During the great Depression of the 1930's, many former slaves were still alive. As part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), historians went out and interviewed thousands of them. This site makes thirteen of them available, and will give a real sense of the life experienced by these former slaves when they were relatively young.

"Been Here So Long": Selections from the WPA American Slave Narratives This site is part of the New Deal Network, which is dedicated to teaching the legacy of the public works projects of the New Deal, of which the WPA slave narratives were a part. Use in conjunction with the online anthology above.

Freedman and Southern Society Project from the History department of Maryland-College Park, this site is primarily intended to promote a nine-volume book series, but provides good information on the process of freeing salves, which actually began before the Emancipation Proclamation and which was not officially completed until ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Civil War Maps from American Memory at the Library of Congress

Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society The images in this digital collection are drawn from the New-York Historical Society's rich archival collections that document the Civil War. They include recruiting posters for New York City regiments of volunteers; stereographic views documenting the mustering of soldiers and of popular support for the Union in New York City; photography showing the war's impact, both in the north and south; and drawings and writings by ordinary soldiers on both sides.

The American Civil War Homepage Gives links to almost any topic about the Civil war. MS Ridgeway, formerly of Williamsburg Middle School says it gives a very thorough overview of the War.

Selected Civil War Photographs in the American Memory Collection - includes many M. Brady photographs. It has more Civil War photographs than any other site, and gives three ways to access the photos, by name of battle, browsing by subject, or through a time line.

The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War, the War years - focuses on Franklin County PA and Augusta County VA. This site gives a real sense of the Civil War as it was experienced by the people who lived it. Letters and diaries from these two communities can be found at the Electronic Text Center site on the Civil War, listed immediately below this entry.

The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865 This site from the University of North Carolina documents Southern life during the Civil War, especially the unsuccessful attempt to create a viable nation state as evidenced in both private and public life. It contains digitized images of letters, broadsides, maps, etc.

Electronic Text Center: Subject: American Civil War UVa is making a major commitment to providing texts and other materials on line. This site contains one of the largest collections of letters and diaries from the Civil War. The collection focuses especially on the two communities featured in The Valley of The Shadow site, also maintained by UVa.

Race and Place: African American Community Histories a site that is useful with the two sites above, as it focuses on the world of salves and slave owners in Augusta County, VA from a period just before the War and extending to the time after the end of fighting. Contains things like newspaper articles, census information, letters, etc, including original documents from UVa, Yale, and other sites.

Antietam National Battlefield provided by the National Park Service, this site gives excellent content about this crucial 1862 battle (which led to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation). Besides specific information on this battle, also has more general information on the Civil War

The Poetry and Music of the War Between the States My wife, who works at Library of Congress, forwarded this very interesting site to me. Due warning: the tune you hear as it loads is NOT from the Civil War era, but is a more modern piece of music used as the theme for Ken Burns's documentary series on the war.

"We'll Sing to Abe Our Song!": Sheet music about Lincoln, the Civil War, and Emancipation Includes more than two hundred sheet-music compositions that represent Lincoln and the war as reflected in popular music. The collection spans the years from Lincoln's presidential campaign in 1859 through the centenary of Lincoln's birth in 1909

Band Music from the Civil War Era This site from American Memory at the Library of Congress makes available examples of a brilliant style of brass band music that flourished in the 1850s in the United States and remained popular through the nineteenth century. Besides scores and descriptions, there are 19 recorded examples that you can play

Songs of the Confederacy - A privately maintained site that has the lyrics to many songs of the era, and includes music files (without voice) to most of the songs.

Songs of the Union - the companion to page to Songs of the Confederacy. Likewise has lyrics, and music files that play only the music (without voice).

Brian Downey's Antietam on the Web a privately made and maintained site that is a "cannot miss" if you are interested in the Battle of Antietam. While you may encounter occasional navigation problems, don't let that discourage you!

Gettysburg National Military Park The official website, maintained by National Park Service. Has good things both for students and for teachers. There is a wonderful virtual tour that takes you through the battle day by day.

Carl Reed's Gettysburg Revisited a well organized, privately maintained site, with all of its contents listed on one page. Has some maps, and some essays written by Carl Reed. Offers some different perspectives on some key issues about the battle.

Zoom in on Gettysburg provides a display of the Battle through maps, artifacts and text, and provides links to other Civil War sites.

Lincoln/Net: The Abraham Lincoln Digitization Project maintained at the University of Northern Illinois, focuses on Lincoln's time in Illinois. Has many campaign songs from both presidential campaigns, some of which can be heard with a free plug-in.

The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress When completed, this site will offer over 20,000 items, including incoming and outgoing correspondence and enclosures, drafts of speeches, and notes and printed material. Most of the 20,000 items are from the 1850s through Lincoln's presidential years, 1860-65. Treasures include Lincoln's draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, his March 4, 1865, draft of his second Inaugural Address, and his August 23, 1864, memorandum expressing his expectation of being defeated for re-election in the upcoming presidential contest. The Lincoln Papers are characterized by a large number of correspondents, including friends and associates from Lincoln's Springfield days, well-known political figures and reformers, and local people and organizations writing to their president. In its online presentation, the Abraham Lincoln Papers comprises approximately 61,000 images.

Monitor: History and Legacy From the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, which is the official museum of the Monitor. There are navigation problems with this site, but the content is not to be missed.

The Official Site of the H. L. Hunley The Hunley was probably the first submarine to see action in combat. This will give you more information than any other site.

The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship Part of the American Memory effort at the Library of Congress, this site covers a much broader span than just the Civil War. Materials on that period are a bit limited, but well placed in the overall context, in which the Civil War played such an important role.

The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War A site maintained by the National Archives especially to provide teachers with material from the Teaching with Documents project. This is the best place to find material about the role of Colored Troops. The site provides a detailed lesson plan, and includes follow-up exercises that place the efforts of this time period into the larger context of the struggle for equal rights.

Civil War Women: On-line Archival Collections This site contains three sets of manuscript about Southern women. Rose O'Neal Greenhow was a Confederate spy who operated out of her home in Washington, DC. Alice Williams was a teenager in Tennessee who was a strong supporter of the Confederate cause. Sarah E. Thompson and her husband were active Union supporters, also from Tennessee.

Prologue: Women Soldiers of the Civil War An article by historian DeAnne Blanton derived from National Archives records about women who fought on both sides. Most were discharged when their true identities were discovered. Several actually received government pensions for their services.

John Brown Home Page This site, maintained by UVa, is also known as "John Brown and the Valley of the Shadow", and offers information closely related to the two communities on which The Valley of the Shadow (listed above) focuses, Augusta County VA and Franklin County PA.

John Brown: sources and images a subpage of the Home Page immediately above, has a list of sources and a number of images about John Brown and related subjects

John Brown on the Internet This page, which provides links to a number of sites, is maintained by the John Brown Historical Association of Illinois

Eye of the Storm A wonderful site with pictures, maps, diaries and even movies (you may need a shockwave player). There is a book of the same name published by the Free Press. You can also check for some interesting reviews of that book on Amazon.