Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Civil War (website) - Tuesday's Tip

The Civil War (at sonofthesouth.net) is a website packed with resources about the Civil War.  You would think, with a url like "son of the south," that most of the content would cover the Confederate South but, surprisingly, there is information on both the Union and the Confederate war efforts.

The Civil War website says of itself, "the WEB's most extensive source of original Civil War resources.  This site has over 7,000 pages of original Civil War content, and is full of incredible photographs, original illustrations, and eye-witness accounts of the defining moments of this Historic Struggle."  If you have ancestors who served in the war, this may be a helpful site for you to learn more about their experiences.  You won't find genealogical information but you may be able to find meat to put on the bare bones of dates and places.

In an earlier post I introduced you to the Civil War issues of Harper's Weekly at The Civil War.  Now, let's look beyond the magazines to see what else is available.  Go to the site and look at the left sidebar.  Ignore the ads at the top and look below where you'll see a list of links to topics:  Civil War, Civil War Overview, Civil War Battles, Confederate Generals, Union Generals, Confederate History, Robert E. Lee, Civil War Medicine, Lincoln Assassination, Slavery, etc.  (There are also individual links to each year of the Civil War which will take you to issues of Harper's Weekly for that year)  

If you click on Civil War Battles you'll be taken to a page that looks like the one to the right.  Click on one of the battle images and you'll go to a page which gives details of the battle, the movements of the troops, and the actions of the soldiers and generals, along with images in photos and/or drawings.  There are multiple links on each page.

Click on Confederate Generals or Union Generals and you'll be taken to a page with photos of generals.  Click on one of them and you'll see photographs and be able to read a biography.

The links in the sidebar may change depending on the subject of the page.  For instance, when you click on Slavery you'll see another dozen options including Slavery History, Slave Photographs, Slave Pictures, Slave Maps, etc.  At each of the links you'll learn more about the topic.

I was particularly interested in Civil War Medicine because of my great-grandfather's Civil War Pension File.  It gives a good overview of the conditions of patients, a link to the report of the sanitary commission, and information about amputation, including a photograph of an original amputation kit.

At the main page, scroll down a little lower on the left sidebar and you'll see links to other wars and to Civil War artists Winslow Homer and Thomas Nast, and photographer Mathew Brady.  Read their biographies and see some of their art.

This website is very large with many individual pages.  I think it's a good site for both general and specific Civil War information.  (But don't be put off by the ads. Without the ads I suspect we'd have to pay to use the site.)  Explore and see if you find helpful information.
.

13 comments:

  1. Nancy, I will definitely be checking out this web site! Thanks for the tip!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you find some interesting, useful things there, Dorene. Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.

      Delete
  2. Have bookmarked the site. Thanks so much for the tip!

    Dee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Dee. I hope it's helpful to you.

      Delete
  3. Thanks Nancy, I will be spending a lot of time at this site.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Claudia. I hope it's useful and interesting.

      Delete
  4. Thank you Nancy! What an amazing website on the Civil War. I have many ancestors from Georgia who served including my Great Grandfather who's service history has been well documented by family and service records. I know I will read and read at this website.
    Thanks,
    Sue
    CollectInTexas Gal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Sue. I know there's a lot of information on the site. It will probably give you some insight into your ancestors' experiences in the war. Thanks for visiting.

      Delete
  5. Nancy,
    I found your blog via Shelley at A Sense of Family. Thanks for the Civil War site. Such an awesome resource!
    I have Holmes ancestors from Tuscarawas County. Rebecca Holmes Williams, her father William Holmes, his father Obadiah Holmes and so on. Rebecca is my g-g-grandmother. They came to Allen County, Oh in the mid 1860s from Tuscarawas County. Any chance our families cross branches?
    Cindy Freed genealogycircle.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Cindy. You're welcome. I hope you enjoy the Civil War website. With all the links it seems like an almost endless resource.

      Our Holmes families probably cross somewhere but I'm not sure where. My g-g-g-grandmother was Susan/Susanna Holmes (who married William Bickerstaff in 1830 in Tuscarawas Co.). Susan's g-grandfather was Obadiah Holmes but I think that's further back than your Rebecca, William, and Obadiah Holmes. I think I have to come forward and laterally to find your Holmes family. I've gathered some of the family myself but a distant cousin sent 50 pages of descendants of Robert Hulme Holmes (b. 1553!). I haven't adopted these ancestors as mine yet until I do some more research. In the kinship list I see Rebecca, William, and Obadiah Holmes but I'm not sure they're the same individuals who are your ancestors. It seems likely the lines cross somewhere based on family names and location.

      I enjoyed your bio/interview on Geneabloggers a few weeks ago.

      Delete
  6. Wow, this looks like a great website, Nancy! I've never heard of it before, so thanks for telling us about it. I'll have to take some time to explore it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nancy, just wanted you to know this post is listed on today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2012/09/follow-fridayfab-finds-for-september-28.html

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments and look forward to reading what you have to say. Thanks for stopping by.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...