Sources and References

General Civil War References

On Line

American Civil War Homepage (UTK) - Dr. Hoemann's massive Link index; among the best 'pointers' since 1995.

American Civil War: Resources on the Internet - Another very large list of links organized by subject; from Dakota State University

The alt.war.civil.usa Reading List - a large list of recommended reading

The alt.war.civil.usa newsgroup Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Part 1 and Part 2 - may have answered your ACW question already!

Google on the Civil War or Yahoo! on the Civil War - Directories of ACW sites from these major Search Engines

ACW Timeline (The History Place) - a nicely presented timeline of major CW events

The American Civil War according to Shotgun - a very wide range of ACW info including OR references, casualty stats, battle summaries, etc. - one of my favorite all-in-one resources

VMI Archives - some interesting local and first person accounts here

The History Channel - very general, but some interesting features

Civil War Series - from the War Times Journal

In Print

James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom. 1988.
A comprehensive history of the United States from about 1845 until Appomattox. About 40% of the book is on the prewar years, the rest on the war. It also has an excellent bibliographic note at the end which refers to most of the scholarly literature on issues relating to the war. If you read only one book on the war, this Pulitzer Prize winner should probably be it.
[see the Amazon.com listing]

Bruce Catton, The Centennial History of the Civil War. New York, Doubleday Books, 1963. Three volumes: published separately as "The Coming Fury, "Terrible Swift Sword," and "Never Call Retreat."
One of the best written histories of the war. First volume covers prewar mterial through First Bull Run, second volume Bull Run to Antietam, third volume the rest of the war. These books may be hard to buy, but are avaiable at most libraries.
[see the Amazon.com listings for Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, and Never Call Retreat]

Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative. New York, 1958. 3 volumes. Published separately as "Fort Sumter to Perryville," "Fredricksburg to Meridian," and "Red River to Appomattox."
An excellent general history of the War; among the most popular.
[see the Amazon.com listing]

Robert Johnson and Clarence Buel, editors. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 volumes. 1887. Reprinted 1959.
A series of articles on the various battles of the Civil War, written by generals and others from both sides who actually fought. The originals are out of print, but newer (sometimes 'selected') editions exist. Some libraries have these.
[see an Amazon.com listing for a single-volume reprint]

Video

Ken Burns, The Civil War.
A 13-1/2 hour motion picture documenting the war. First shown on PBS and highly acclaimed, available from PBS Video on various media. There is also a companion book, "The Civil War: An Illustrated History".

National Park Service, Antietam Documentary.
This 58 minute documentary includes discussion of the three phases of the battle of Antietam by notable historians. It also includes scenes of battle re-creation and computerized troop movement maps. It's available online from the battlefield museum store (VHS, DVD).

National Park Service, Antietam Visit.
This 28 minute video reenacts President Abraham Lincoln's visit to Antietam just two weeks after the battle and includes quotations from soldiers' diaries and letters. This is the film shown throughout the day in the Visitor Center theater. Also available online from the museum (VHS).

Special Interest

On Line

US Civil War Generals - a massive listing of biographical info

The Generals of the American Civil War - a very large collection of pictures

The Civil War Artillery Page - the best place on the net to learn about every aspect of the big guns of the war

Save Historic Antietam Foundation

Civil War Trust - Preserving hallowed Civil War ground

The Dunkers - a little history about the Church and the Bretheren of Sharpsburg

Civil War Traveller - the Civil War Trails folks: tour guides to the Eastern USA

Project Plug Ugly - Gen A. Williams in the Civil War; links to Waud panoramic paintings of Antietam, and interesting discussion of the Lost Orders (S.O. 191), among other things ...

Hardee's Infantry Tactics - A great presentation of this standard manual of the drill for your edification. Thanks to the impressive "US Regulars" website.

Research/Primary Sources

On Line

Civil War Photographs - the fine US Library of Congress collection

Official Records - US War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of Union and Confederate Armies. GPO, 1880 - 1901.
This is the ultimate official reference. Known as the "OR", it was compiled by various US Army and War Department teams after the war. 128 volumes, hard to buy, and only a few libraries have it. They are available online in several places, the best of which is part of Cornell University's magnificent Making of America, a collection of 19th Century publications.

[Text versions of these are commercially available on CDROM; see Broadfoot Publishing, for example.]

In Print

Mark Boatner, The Civil War Dictionary. (reprint, 1988).
A dictionary of Civil War names, places, battles, and terms, with one paragraph descriptions of each. Designed as a quick and easy reference to let you get a quick grasp of a subject starting from only a name or place.
[see the Amazon.com listing]

Charles Emil Dornbusch, Military Bibliography of the Civil War. 4 vols, 1987.
A listing of books published on Union and Confederate regiments, and personal narratives. 1987 is the latest update. Out of print, may be hard to find.

Frederick Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 volumes. 1959.
A summary of the portion of the Official Records which deals with the Union armies: contains much of the interesting information and numerical data. Useful if you want to find something that is in OR but don't have the time to hunt through it. This title also out of print.
Available online at the US Army Military History Institute

William Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War. 1985.
Regiment by regiment, lists all the losses suffered in the various battles of the war. Also contains synopsis histories of each corps in the Union Army.
[see the Amazon.com listing]

Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, 1903..
A very wide reaching reference on US Army officers from the Revolution through 1903. Lists all Regular Army officers, and many Volunteers, with important dates of service, ranks, and commendations. Sections include Army Organizations and terms. More than 60,000 individuals are covered.This book has been reissued a number of times since 1903.
Also available online at the US Army Military History Institute
[see the Amazon.com listing]

Steven E. Woodworth (ed.), The American Civil War : A Handbook of Literature and Research, 1996..
A guide to Civil War literature, this book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date, and informative survey and analysis of the vast body of Civil War literature.
[see the Amazon.com listing]

Note: I have no affiliation with Amazon.Com, and do not necessarily recommend you use them. I only link to them because they often have interesting commentary and other information about their titles. To be fair, there are many other booksellers online including Barnes&Noble, C. Clayton Thompson, and Antietam Museum Store, for example.