I'm Sure Its Been Asked.....

[LedgerSko]

....but I did a few searches and I could not find it. In terms of researching the war, where should one start?

I assume one should start with a general overview of the War which would include the works of Shelby Foote, Bruce Catton and James McPherson.

My question is where should I go from there? Would you start looking at the individual people? (Lincoln, Davis, Lee, Grant etc) or would you start looking at specific campaigns?

Then the logical question would then be, what would be the third step?

 

[Nytram01]

I suppose it all depends on what interests you personally in the moment.

I mean, if I started off by researching the war as a whole I wouldn't be here now, too much to take in and I fear my interest would have ebbed.

Instead I focused first of the east (though not in detail) and then on Robert E. Lee, then the West (though not in detail) and now Joe Johnston and the AoT. I'm still in the early stages of potential research into the war but since my attention span is limited I find that by jumping through topics I can keep my interest in the thing high.

Dont know if others are the same but thats how it works for me.

Anyway, I dont think that is a generic ideal or perfect place to start when looking into the War, you just have to find something that interest you and go with it otherwise the enjoyment of it wouldn't be there.

 

[PvtClewell]

As simplistic as this may sound, I first cut my teeth on the Civil War with the Time-Life Series. I still use them for reference on occasion. Great maps, but also touches on just about everything about the war.

Shortly thereafter, I read Battle Cry of Freedom.

Then it just took off from there.

It didn't hurt to live in North Carolina, where I could drive to nearly every battlefield in the eastern theater.

Of course, all of this took about 25 years to get me to this point.

 

[Baggage Handler #2]

What you've proposed is a pretty typical path, I think, and should work, but it might give you similar viewpoints and prejudices to many other people. That isn't to say the works aren't good, for many of them are solid. Rather, in each case you're relying on a re-interpretation of the events from a well known and common set of sources.

So, as an option, here's an approach for the current century.
1) stop at Wikipedia (I know, I know, but it has lots of stuff) or the CW Wiki hosted by this site. Take from there the bare facts - names, places, dates, that sort of thing.
2) Get to know the time lines - the significant events of 1861, 1862, 1863, etc. Maybe you'll find one that piques your curiosity and you'll google it.
3) get some maps. Know the general geography of the major areas. TN & northern Virginia in particular. Use google's street view if you like, the marker for JEB Stuart is visible on it. This gives you some idea of the foliage and a good idea of the terrain.
4) understand where the railroads were and get an idea of how long it took to get from one place to another - measure travel time in days rather than hours. About 4-5 days from Washington DC to Louisville unless you were in an absolute rush, for example. That's a dozen hours in a car these days, 2 by air.
At some point you'll probably stumble on some event or battle that makes you want to dig a little deeper. Yield to this temptation. Read about it. My preference is to read veterans' accounts from both sides, then poke into some of the official papers, and maybe explore the order of battle a little, but you'll figure something that works for you.

So often one thing leads to another. For me, first person accounts are fascinating and vivid. I've posted a link to Ambrose Bierce a number of times before, but it's pretty good stuff.

The only caution I'd give is against believing too much from even a credible source. It's critical, I think, to read both sides of an issue.


Good luck!

 

[RebelCaptainDave]

It seems like the above folks have given some sound advice on where to start. It's different for each of us. Some watch all the movies they can before diving into the book and web sites. Find a figure or figures that intrest you and start there. In time everything comes into view. Of course we all see this war from different angles, just like reading the Bible, we all have our conclusions even though we read the same thing.

There will never be any answers that close any action from this time period, because much was lost during this time ( written material ) and other important docs.

Just like this site that we are on now, still discussing the issues from then, still looking at the battles, still trying to make sense of what happened and who was at fault.

It still lingers!

Captain Dave

 

[LedgerSko]

Thank you for the advice so far guys. I cannot wait to continue to dig.

 

[LedgerSko]

Has anyone gone about it from the part to whole method. IE take a look at the life of Stonewall Jackson, then widen to the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, then the battle in the East then the war as a whole...or something similar to that?

 

[wayne jackson]

if you want to start with stonewall go to the site --the jackson brigrade

 

[blue_zouave]

You could also start where many, many started, with Ken Burns' TV miniseries The Civil War. It's available on Netflix. Nice overview for all its flaws.

Zou

 

[ole]

All excellent advice. Just start and follow your nose. Everyone here finds something in everything.

I follow the personalities. Others will chase down a unit. Or a cause. Or the politics. Some remain in the east; others are fascinated with the west. We have people who specialize in a state. But you won't know where your interests lie until you start.

Read Catton or McPherson or Foote or the Time-Life series, but be aware that these are only a start. You will go on from there.

Good luck.

Ole

 

[larry_cockerham]

Many moons ago I bought several books from the National Geographic Series, one of them on the Civil War. The author had taken his kids on a bit of a battlefield tour and had compiled some maps. He was writing about what it must have been like to experience the war in a particular place he and his sons were visiting. I got to thinking about it. Still am.

 

[whitworth]

Frankly I wouldn't waste a lot of time

reading all the battle book historians.

Virginia was only one small piece of the Confederate boundaries, and even there, the Confederacy was unable to defend the naval base at Norfolk, the counties on the Potomac River near Washington, and the western counties of Virginia.

Read the books on the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, but study why the Confederacy couldn't defend western Virginia(now West Virginia), Kentucky, Missouri, western Tennessee and New Orleans. Reading about the latter states will give you a better picture of reality.

Most battle book historians tend to keep the Confederacy in the war, right up to Appomattox. Read some of the scant information on why the steamboats, the Ohio River, the Missouri River, and the Mississippi River were reasons why the Confederacy lost so much land, early, near these sites.

Read Margaret Mitchell's great novel, "Gone with the Wind.", at least up to the end of the Civil War.
Her comments on the industrial might of the North(per Rhett Butler) and Hood's faulty invasion of Tennessee are priceless. It will save a lot of time attempting to salvage victory for the Confederacy.

Read some information on railroads; the lack of rails for the Confederacy and the almost impossible task of keeping the southern railroads running.

And read the Constitution of the Confederate States, available on the internet for free. Look and see how many times a form of the word slave is used. It's a document the living neo-confederates never read.