American Civil War

A Guide to Resources Available at the Mount Angel Abbey Library

Updated, January, 2010

Mount Angel Abbey Library has an outstanding collection of Civil War materials, thanks to the dedication of Abbot Bonaventure Zerr, OSB, who was for many years the acquisitions librarian and was very interested in the Civil War. We understand that our Library has one of the largest collections of books on the Civil War in the United States, and that it is one of the largest such collections west of the Mississippi River - over 2500 books. We are glad to share the depth of the collection with those who can benefit from it.

Almost all of the Civil War books are in the main stacks. However, some old and fragile books are in the rare book collection, so they can be used in the library, but cannot be checked out.

 

Bibliographies

• Cole, Garold C. Civil War Eyewitnesses: An Annotated Bibliography of Books and Articles, 1955-1986. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2000.
• --- Civil War Eyewitnesses: An Annotated Bibliography Of Books And Articles, 1986-1996. Columbia, SC :University of South Carolina Press, 2000.
• Dornbusch, C. E. Military Bibliography of the Civil War [Regimental Publications and Personal Narratives of the War] 3 vols. New York: New York Public Library, 1961.
• Eicher, David J. The Civil War In Books: An Analytical Bibliography. Urbana: University Of Illinois Press, 1997.
• Hartwig, D. Scott. The Battle of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign of 1862: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1990.
• Menendez, Albert J. Civil War Novels: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1986.
• Moss, William. Confederate Broadside Poems: An Annotated Descriptive Bibliography. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1988.
• Nevins, Allen, et al., eds. Civil War Books: A Critical Bibliography. 2 vols. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1967.
• Sauers, Richard Allen, comp. The Gettysburg Campaign, June 3--August 1, 1863: A Comprehensive, Selectively Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1982.
• Woodworth, Steven E, ed. The American Civil War: A Handbook Of Literature And Research. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996.

Atlases, Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

• Boatner, Mark Mayo. The Civil War Dictionary. Rev. ed. New York: McKay, 1988.
• Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: a political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2000.
  
• Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. New York:Simon & Schuster, 1993.
• Neely, Jr., M. E. Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982.
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts on File, 1988.
• Wakelyn, Jon L. Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1977.
• Woodward, Steven and Kenneth J. Winkle. The Atlas of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Selected Books

Listed here are some of the books from recommend list for the topic of American Civil War in The Best Books For Academic Libraries, Vol. 4 (Temecula, CA: Best Books, Inc., 2002). In general, these are the latest and best books on the subject. All the books listed here are in the Abbey Library. They are arranged in the Library of Congress Classification order:

E 441 - E 442 Slavery in General

• Donna, Elizabeth. Documents Illustrative Of The History Of The Slave Trade To America. New York: Octagon Books, 1965.
• Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt). The Suppression of the African Slave-trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870. New York: Schocken Books, 1969.
• Dumond, Dwight Lowell. Antislavery: The Crusade For Freedom In America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1961.
• Schneider, Dorothy. Slavery In America: From Colonial Times To The Civil War. New York: Facts on File, c2000.

  
  E 443 - E 444 Slave Life

• Blassingame, John W., ed. Slave Testimony: Two Centuries Of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, And Autobiographies. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, c1977.
• Federal Writers’ Project. Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History Of Slavery. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1945.
• Schwartz, Marie Jenkins. Born In Bondage: Growing Up Enslaved In The Antebellum South. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000.

E 446 - E 448 History of Slavery

• Boles, John B., ed. Masters & Slaves In The House Of The Lord: Race And Religion In The American South, 1740-1870. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, c1988.
• Franklin, John Hope. Runaway Slaves: Rebels On The Plantation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Zilversmit, Arthur. The First Emancipation: The Abolition Of Slavery In The North. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967.

E 449 General Works, 1830-1869

• Douglass, Frederick. Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. New York: Modern Library, c2000.
• Fogel, Robert William. Time On The Cross: The Economics Of American Negro Slavery. New York: Norton, 1989, c1974.
• Genovese, Eugene D. A Consuming Fire: The Fall Of The Confederacy In The Mind Of The White Christian South. Athens: University of Georgia Press, c1998.
• Stowe, Harriet Beecher. A Key To Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Presenting The Original Facts And Documents Upon Which The Story Is Founded Together With Corroborative Statements Verifying The Truth Of The Work. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1968, c1853.

E 450 - E 453 Special Topics

• Gara, Larry. The Liberty Line: The Legend Of The Underground Railroad. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
• Oates, Stephen B. To Purge This Land With Blood: A Biography Of John Brown. Amherst: University of Mass. Press, 1984.

E 457 Lincoln

• Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, c1995.
• Lincon, Abraham. Collected Works. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953-55.

E 458 - E 459 Political History, 1861-1865

• Stampp, Kenneth M. The Imperiled Union: Essays On The Background Of The Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

E 464 Civil War:Collections

• Commager, Henry Steele. The Blue And The Gray: The Story Of The Civil War As Told By Participants. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1950.

E 467 Civil War:Biography

• Anderson, Nancy Scott. The Generals--Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. New York: Knopf, 1988, c1987.
• Davis, Jefferson. The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971-.

E 468 General Histories

• Katcher, Philip R. N. The Civil War Source Book. New York: Facts on File, c1992.
• The Photographic History Of The Civil War In Ten Volumes. Secaucus,N.J.: The Blue & Grey Press, 1987.

E 470 - E 480 Military Operations

• Griffith, Paddy. Battle Tactics of the Civil War. New Haven,Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989.
• Wills, Garry. Lincoln At Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America. New York: Simon & Schuster, c1992.

E 482 - E 489 Confederate States of America

• Owsley, Frank Lawrence. King Cotton Diplomacy: Foreign Relations Of The Confederate States Of America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959.

• Thomas, Emory M. The Confederate Nation, 1861-1865. New York: Harper & Row, c1979.

E 491 - E 586 Armies

• Hagerman, Edward. The American Civil War And The Origins Of Modern Warfare: Ideas, Organization, And Field Command. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c1988.
• McPherson, James M. For Cause And Comrades: Why Men Fought In The Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Mitchell, Reid. Civil War Soldiers. New York: Viking, 1988.

E 591 Naval History

• Anderson, Bern. By Sea And By River: The Naval History Of The Civil War. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977, c1962.

E 609 Press

• Starr, Louis Morris. Bohemian Brigade: Civil War Newsmen In Action. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987, c1954.

E 611 - E 655 Special Topics

• Rawley, James A. Turning Points of the Civil War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1968, c1966.

Web-based / Internet Resources

Civil War

A very broad-based website about the Civil War, ranging from Civil War Official Records to individual personnel to interactive maps to pictures. Also includes a wide range of links to other Civil War related sites.

Blue and Gray Education Society
"Blue and Gray Education Society's mission is to reveal our past for our future through facilitating the study and understanding of the American Civil War." This website emphasizes preservation of Civil War sites.

George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War
A list of numerous websites for Civil War sites.

George and Anne Richards Civil War Era Center

Links to numerous Civil War-era institutes and resources.