Primary Sources: U.S. Civil War: Documents

"Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States."

"On April 9, 1865, Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee met in the parlor of a house in Appomattox Court House, VA, to discuss this surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, which would end the Civil War. According to the terms, the men of Lee's army could return home in safety if they pledged to end the fighting and deliver their arms to the Union Army. "

Includes:
Image of the Confederate Constitution
Transcription of the Confederate Constitution
Signers of the Constitution
Dates of Secession

University of Georgia Libraries

"On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Passage of this law came 8 1/2 months before President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. " National Archives

Textual Records from the National Archives and Records Administration.

"General William T. Sherman's order for all except armies of the United States to vacate Atlanta, Georgia."
04 September 1864
Georgia's Virtual Vault

"Order from General William T. Sherman to General James B. McPherson directing General Dodge's 16th Corps, U.S. Army, to destroy the railroad between Atlanta and Decatur, Georgia. McPherson was killed shortly after by Confederate skirmishers in the Battle of Atlanta. " 22 July 1864
Georgia's Virtual Vault

"Perhaps the most famous battle of the Civil War took place at Gettysburg, PA, July 1 to July 3, 1863. At the end of the battle, the Union's Army of the Potomac had successfully repelled the second invasion of the North by the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia. Several months later, President Lincoln went to Gettysburg to speak at the dedication of the cemetery for the Union war dead. Speaking of a "new birth of freedom," he delivered one of the most memorable speeches in U.S. history."

"Drawn from the Library’s collections, the presentation that follows gathers the key documents linked to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address."

"Memorandum accompanying papers taken from the body of Major General James B. McPherson, commander of the U.S. Army of the Tennessee. McPherson was killed by Confederate skirmishers in the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864 between Atlanta and Decatur, Georgia. " 22 July 1864
Georgia's Virtual Vault

requesting permission "to raise a number of colored regiments"

(Proclamations 82 and 86), 4/27/1861 - 8/16/1861
Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2004
Civil War Prize Case Files
Series ARC ID 620244

By Andrew JohnsonAvailable in: American Historical Documents, 1000-1904. The Harvard Classicsfrom Bartleby.com

By Abraham Lincoln (1863) Available in American Historical Documents, 1000-1904. The Harvard Classics from Bartleby.com

"On May 29, 1865, President Johnson issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon for the citizens of those Confederate states that had not been restored under Lincoln’s Reconstruction policy."

CNU ONLY

"The first engagement of the Civil War took place at Fort Sumter on April 12 and 13, 1861. After 34 hours of fighting, the Union surrendered the fort to the Confederates. "

Available in: American Historical Documents, 1000–1904.
The Harvard Classics
from Bartleby.com

"This poster was used to recruit recently freed slaves to fight in the Civil War for the Union Army. The men were recruited for military duty with the promise of freedom, protection and pay."

"At the end of the Civil War, this bill created a framework for Reconstruction and the readmittance of the Confederate states to the Union."

"The War Department issued General Order 143 on May 22, 1863, creating the United States Colored Troops. By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10 percent of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army, and another 19,000 served in the Navy."