Civil War Letters and Journals

Throughout the Civil War, soldiers and their families kept in close touch by writing letters. The volume of wartime correspondence was immense, with ninety thousand letters a day processed in the Union alone. Other men and women kept journals to record their experiences, which some used as the basis for published reminiscences years later. Soldiers’ letters were especially important in capturing the daily experiences of war, from the boredom of encampments to the excitement or horrors of battle to concerns about their families back home (Document 13.6). Soldiers’ letters also expressed their views on the causes of the war and their changing understandings of its meaning (Documents 13.5). For black soldiers this often meant coming to terms with discrimination by the very government for which they were fighting (Document 13.8). Female volunteers provide another dramatic perspective on the war. Suzy King Taylor, who ran away from a Georgia plantation to work for the Union army, is the only former slave who published her memoirs of the war (Document 13.7). Far more women experienced the war from the home front, but for many Confederate women this often meant living near army outposts and even prisoner-of-war camps (Document 13.9).

The letters and journals reprinted here, from both Northerners and Southerners, represent an array of experiences, including those of soldiers and civilians, women and men, blacks and whites. Covering nearly the whole expanse of the war, they help us trace transformations among soldiers, female volunteers, and civilians.