Primary Sources: U.S. Civil War: South - Personal Sources

"The Anne Fannie Gorham Diary Collection consists of the diary of Anne Fannie Gorham, which describes her daily life in Hamilton, Georgia at the beginning of the Civil War. It also includes a typed transcript of the diary, photocopies of a book on Gorham family genealogy, and a letter stating the finding of the diary."
Columbus State University Archives

"This digital collection about the Civil War contains letters, diaries, speeches, research and other materials from multiple collections."

"The Civil War digital collection is a joint project of the State Archives and State Library of North Carolina. This digital collection was created as part of the 2011-2015 Department of Natural and Cultural Resources commemoration of the American Civil War Sesquicentennial. The themes of the commemoration were Freedom, Sacrifice, and Memory, and were intended to encompass a wide range of topics and points of view. The digital collections includes letters, diaries, newspaper articles, reminiscences, troop histories, state agency records, maps, rosters, books, and other materials related to North Carolina's Civil War history. Some items were selected to support the Civil War 150 blog maintained by the staff of the State Archives. While many materials have been made available through this digital collection, the online materials are still a small sample of what is available for research from the contributing institutions."

"The letters present a snapshot of the lives of Major J.N. Coleman of the Third Texas Cavalry and his fiancée, Virginia E. "Jennie" Adkins. John’s letters from the field provide readers with a unique insight into the horrors, excitement, and day-to-day monotony of a soldier’s life in the Confederate army, while Jennie’s letters detail life on the home front in Marshall, Texas."
Provided by Baylor University

"... chronicles Cyrus Franklin Jenkins' experiences as an enlisted man in the Meriwether Volunteers, Company B, 13th Georgia Infantry Regiment, during the first year of the war, June 1861 to March 1862. Jenkins vividly describes the early euphoria of the war and the regiment's campaigns in western Virginia (now West Virginia) as part of Floyd's Brigade and in Savannah in Lawton's Brigade. The regiment took part in skirmishes at Sewell Mountain, Laurel Hill, and Whitemarsh Island. While traveling, Jenkins also remarks on the changing scenery he encounters. Additionally, his account of camp life highlights the medical care available to Confederate soldiers at this stage in the war. Jenkins was killed at Spotsylvania, Virginia, on May 12, 1864."

Southern Civil War Narratives available in the Documenting the American South collection.

"... presents documents related to all aspects of Southern life during the Civil War. In particular, government and civilian publications demonstrate the Confederate States of America's unsuccessful attempt to create a viable nation state. This collection includes over four hundred Civil War era maps, broadsides, photographs, printed works, Confederate currency, and manuscript letters and diaries."
Documenting the American South

""First-Person Narratives of the American South" is a collection of diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, travel accounts, and ex-slave narratives written by Southerners. The majority of materials in this collection are written by those Southerners whose voices were less prominent in their time, including African Americans, women, enlisted men, laborers, and Native Americans"

United States History Civil War 1861 1865 Personal Narratives Confederate

"This collection includes 22 letters (July 1861 - April 1864) from twin brothers John Booker (1840-1864) and James Booker (1840-1923) of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, to their cousin Chloe Unity Blair (1839-75). "

"The Lipe (or Leib) family lived in Deep Well (now Mooresville), Iredell County, North Carolina. The collection consists of 27 letters by 7 different Confederate soldiers, telling of their experiences in the Civil War. Includes a poem and unidentified notes. Correspondents include J. L. Lipe, George L. Kistler, W. A. Wallace, Thomas L. Purdie, R. M. Emerson, James C. Moore, Elburtus M. Kennerly, and Eliza Ann Lipe. "Wake Forest University's Wake Space

" Letter from a Confederate prisoner of war held at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, who had served as a lieutenant in Co. C., 44th Infantry Regiment, Georgia Volunteers. Napoleon Bonaparte Durham was the son of Martha Walker and Lindsey Durham, a physician in Clarke County, Georgia. He studied medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and practiced with his father before the Civil War. " 30 October 1864
Georgia's Virtual Vault

His diary kept when a prisoner at Fort Warren, Boston Harbour, 1865 ; giving incidents and reflections of his prison life and some letters and reminiscences / edited, with a biographical study, by Myrta Lockett Avary

Georgia Historic Books

"The digitized collection Robert Toombs, Letters to Julia Ann DuBose Toombs, 1850-1867 consists of correspondence from Robert Toombs to his wife, Julia Ann DuBose Toombs in Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia from 1850-1867. During 1850-1859 his letters come from Washington, D.C. while he served in the U.S. Senate. During the Civil War, he wrote from Virginia (1862) and Atlanta, Georgia (1864). Following the war, letters are written from Paris (1866-67) while he was in exile. The correspondence generally discusses current events; his land holdings in South Georgia, Alabama, and Texas; people; other soldiers; and his wish to be with his wife and family. "
Digital Library of Georgia

"A collection of 69 letters written by Alexander Tedford Barclay (1844-1915), a soldier in the civil war, to his family in Lexington. Most of the letters were sent to his sister, Hannah Moore Barclay (1839-1903?), and his mother, Mary Elanor Paxton Barclay (1810-1883). His brothers Elihu and Paxton are mentioned. "

"Wood documents his experiences for the historical record, because he feels "it is the duty of the survivors to preserve from oblivion the names and deeds of their dead comrades" (p. iii). Intended to carry out Wood's "duty," The War is a chronologically arranged narrative covering the period from his time at VMI through the end of the war in 1865. "
Documenting the American South

"This collection chiefly consists of Civil War letters written by Confederate soldier William Francis Brand (1840-1936), Augusta County, Virginia, to Amanda Catherine Armentrout, his future wife and a Greenville, Augusta County resident. Brand was a private in Comapny E (the Augusta Grays), 5th Virginia Regiment, Stonewall Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. Also present are notes, genealogical information, a 1959 news article concerning these letters, several letters from friends and relatives in Virginia and elsewhere, and photocopies of abbreviated typescripts and notes of selected Brand letters by the Chairman of the Waynesboro Civil War Centennial Committee. "