"... Drawn from letters, diaries, speeches, articles, poems, songs, military reports, legal opinions, and memoirs, 'The Civil War: The First Year' brings together over 120 pieces by more than sixty participants to create a unique firsthand narrative of this great historical crisis..."--Dust jacket flap.

-- The Baltimore Riot: April 1861. From Historical Sketch of the Old Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers / John W. Hanson -- "I have but one sentiment now": Illinois, April 1861 / Ulysses S. Grant to Frederick Dent, April 19, 1861, and the Jesse Root Grant, April 21, 1861 -- Montgomery, Alabama, April 1861. Message to the Confederate Congress, April 29, 1861 / Jefferson Davis -- "Strike down slavery itself": May 1861. How to End the War, May 1861 / Frederick Douglass -- New York, Spring 1861. First O Songs for a Prelude / Walt Whitman -- A Strategic Plan : May 1861 / Winfield Scott to George B. McClellan, May 3, 1861 -- Life in Army Camp : Michigan, May 1861 / Charles B. Haydon : Diary, May 3 -- 12, 1861 -- Predicting a Short War: May 1861 / Ulysses S. Grant to Jesse Root Grant, May 6, 1861 -- Life in the Executive Mansion : Washington, D.C., May 1861 / John Hay : Diary, May 7 -- 10, 1861 -- Fearing Attack in Alexandria : Virginia, May 1861 / Judith W. McGuire : Diary, May 10, 1861 -- Rioting in St. Louis : Missouri, May 1861 / William T. Sherman to John Sherman, May 11, 1861 -- Slaves Seeking Freedom: Virginia, May 1861 / Benjamin F. Butler to Winfield Scott, May 24, 1861 -- Defining Runaway Slaves : Virginia, May 1861 / The New York Times : General Butler and the Contraband of War, June 2, 1861 -- "Our Cause is just" : Louisiana, May 1861 / Kate Stone : Journal, May 15-27, 1861 -- A Visit to Washington : May-June 1861 / George Templeton Strong : Diary, May 29 -- June 2, 1861 -- Massachusetts, May 1861 : John Brown's Body -- The Writ of Habeas Corpus : Maryland, May 1861 / Roger B. Taney : Opinion in Ex parte Merryman, June 1, 1861 -- "I rejoice in this war" : Virginia, June 1861 / Henry A. Wise : Speech at Richmond, June 1, 1861 -- The "blinded, fanatical" North: Georgia, June 1861 / Charles C. Jones Jr. to Charles C. Jones Sr. and Mary Jones, June 10, 1861 -- Anglo-American Relations : London, June 1861 / Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams Jr., June 10-11, 1861 -- Cherokee Neutrality : Indian Territory, June 1861 / John Ross to Benjamin McCulloch, June 17, 1861 -- Emancipating Northern Opinion : June 1861 / James Russel Lowell : The Pickens-and-Stealin's Rebellion, June 1861 -- Washington, D.C., July 1861 / Abraham Lincoln : Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861 -- An Unobserved Holiday: Louisiana, July 1861 / Kate Stone : Journal, July 4, 1861 -- Facing the Enemy: Missouri, July 1861 / Ulysses S. Grant : from Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant -- Defeats in Western Virginia: July 1861 / Sallie Brock : from Richmond During the War -- A Farewell Letter : July 1861 / Sullivan Barlou to Sarah Ballou, July 14, 1861 -- Battle of Manassas : Virginia, July 1861 / Charles Minor : from Letters from Lee's Army -- The Union Army Retreats : Virginia, July 1861 / William Howard Russell : from My Diary North and South -- "Death and confusion everywhere" : Virginia, July 1861 / Samuel J. English to his Mother, July 24, 1861 -- News of Manassas : South Carolina, July 1861 / Emma Holmes : Diary, July 22-23, 1861 -- Straggling Soldiers: Washington, D.C., July 1861 / Elizabeth Blair Lee to Samuel Phillips Lee, July 23, 1861 -- "A terrible shock": Washington, D.C., July 1861 / Walt Whitman : from Specimen Days -- Washington, D.C., July 1861 / Abraham Lincoln : Memoranda on Military Policy, July 23, 1891 -- Celebrating Victory : Virginia, July 1861 / Mary Chesnut : Diary, July 24, 1861 Calling a Secession Convention, November 1860. What Shall the South Carolina Legislature Do? November 3, 1860 / Charleston Mercury -- "Alarms from the South" : Illinois, November 1860. Memoranda Regarding Abraham Lincoln, November 5-6, 1860 / John G. Nicolay -- Going to Go, November 9, 1860 / New-York Daily Tribune -- The Threat of Secession, November 1860. Jefferson Davis to Robert Barnwell Rhett Jr., November 10, 1860 -- The Need for Southern Cooperation, November 1860. Speech at Milledgeville, November 15, 1860 / Benjamin Hill -- Debating Secession, Georgia, November 1860. The Right of States to Secede, November 16, 1860 / New York Daily News -- "States cannot exist disunited," November 1860. "I am for the Union as it is," Texas, November 1860 / Sam Houston to H.M. Watkins and Others, November 20, 1860 -- "Our sore national sickness : New York, November 1860. Diary, November 20, November 26-December I, 1860 / George Templeton Strong -- "This dangerous game" : Missouri, November 1860 Diary, November 22, 1860 / Edward Bates -- The "Wicked Spirit" of Secession : Tennessee, November 1860. William G. Brownlow to R.H. Appleton, November 29, 1860 -- Lincoln, and Slavery : December 1860. The Late Election, December 1860 / Frederick Douglass -- Secessionism in Louisiana, December 1860. William T. Sherman to Thomas Ewing Sr. and to John Sherman -- Washington, D.C., December 1860. From the Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1860 / James Buchanan -- The Benefits of Slavery : December 1860. The Non-Slaveholders of the South, December 5, 1860 / J.D.B. DeBow -- Advocating Secession : Georgia, December 1860 / Joseph E. Brown to Alfred H. Colquitt and Others, December 7, 1860 -- Restating Positions on Slavery : December 1860 / Abraham Lincoln to John A. Gilmer, December 15, 1860 -- Rejecting Coercion : December 1860. The Right of Secession, December 17, 1860 / New-York Daily Tribune -- "I stand by the Union" : December 1860. Remarks in the U.S. Senate, December 17, 1860 / Benjamin F. Wade -- A Compromise over Slavery, December 1860. Remarks in the U.S. Senate, December 18, 1860 / John J. Crittenden -- "Meanness and rascality" : Washington, D.C., December 1860 / Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams Jr., December 18-20, 1860 -- A Confidential Message : Illinois, December 1860. Memorandum Regarding Abraham Lincoln, December 22, 1860 / John G. Nicolay -- Charleston, December 1860. South Carolina Declaration of the Causes of Secession, December 24, 1860 -- Occupying Fort Sumter : South Carolina, December 1860. From Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-'61 / Abner Doubleday -- Urging Kentucky to Secede: December 1860 / Stephen F. Hale to Beriah Magoffin, December 27, 1860 -- "The tempest bursting" : 1860. Misgivings / Herman Melville -- "Sad foreboding": Georgia, January 1861 / Mary Jones to Charles C. Jones Jr., January 3, 1861 -- "All depends on Virginia" : Washington, D.C., January 1861 / Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams Jr., January 8, 1861 -- Jackson, January 1861. Mississippi Declaration of the Causes of Secession, January 9, 1861 -- "A warlike aspect." Washington, D.C., January 1861 / Elizabeth Blair Lee to Samuel Phillips Lee -- The "Star of the West" : South Carolina, January 1861 / Catherine Edmondston : Diary, January 9-13, 1861 -- Washington, D.C., January 1861. Farewell Address in the U.S. Senate, January 21, 1861 / Jefferson Davis -- The Evils of Anarchy and Civil War: January 1861 / Robert E. Lee to George Washington Custis Lee, January 23, 1861 -- Hopes for Lincoln's Administration: March 1861. The New President, March 1861 / Frederick Douglass -- Washington, D.C., March 1861. First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861 / Abraham Lincoln -- "That wretch Abraham Lincoln" : North Carolina, March 1861 / Catherine Edmondston : Diary, March 4, 1861 -- Vindicating Slavery: Georgia, March 1861. "Corner-Stone" Speech, March 21, 1861 / Alexander H. Stephens -- Relieving Fort Sumter: Washington, D.C., March-April 1861 / Edward Bates : Diary, March 9-April 8, 1861 -- Seward and Fort Sumter: Washington, D.C. Noninterference with Slavery: July 1861 / Crittenden-Johnson Resolutions, July 22-25, 1861 -- Assuming Command: Washington, D.C., July 1861 / George B. McClellan to Mary Ellen McClellan, July 27, 1861 -- "Our men are not good Soldiers" : July 1861 / William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, July 28, 1861 -- "Our late awful disaster": July 1861 / Horace Greeley to Abraham Lincoln, July 29, 1861 -- Washington, D.C., August 1861 / George B. McClellan : Memorandum for the President, August 2, 1861 -- A Measure Against Slavery: August 1861 / Confiscation Act, August 6, 1861 -- "The Presdt is an idiot": August 1861 / George B. McClellan to Mary Ellen McClellan, August 8, 9, and 16, 1861 -- Battle of Wilson's Creek : Missouri, August 1861 / E. F. Ware : from The Lyon Campaign in Missouri -- Confederate Artillery at Wilson's Creek : Missouri, August 1861 / W. E. Woodruff : from With the Light Guns in '61-'65 -- Freeing the Slaves of Rebels: Missouri, August 1861 / John C. Fremont : Proclamation, August 30, 1861 -- Modifying a Proclamation : September 1861 / Abraham Lincoln to John C. Fremont, September 2, 1861 -- The Need for Black Soldiers: September 1861 / Frederick Douglass : Fighting Rebels with Only One Hand, September 1861 -- Revoking Fremont's Proclamation: September 1861 / Abraham Lincoln to Orville H. Browning, September 22, 1861 -- A Cherokee-Confederate Alliance: Indian Territory, October 1861 / John Ross : Message to the National Council, October 9, 1861 -- Battle of Ball's Bluff: Virginia, October 1861 / Henry Livermore Abbott to Josiah Gardner Abbott, October 22, 1861 -- Replacing Winfield Scott: October 1861 / George B. McClellan to Mary Ellen McClellan, October 25, 26, 30, and 31, 1861 -- "I am tired of incompetents": November 1861 / Charles Francis Adams Jr. to Henry Adams, November 5, 1861 -- Preparing for the Next Battle : November 1861 / George B. McClellan to Samuel L. M. Barlow, November 8, 1861 -- Battle of Belmont: Missouri, November 1861 / Ulysses S. Grant to Jesse Root Grant, November 8, 1861 -- A Doctor at Belmont : Missouri, November 1861 / Lunsford P. Yandell Jr. to Lunsford Yandell Sr., November 10, 1861 -- The Capture of Port Royal : South Carolina, November 1861 / Samuel Francis Du Pont to Sophie Du Pont, November 13-15, 1861 -- A Former Slave Remembers : South Carolina, November 1861 / Sam Mitchell : Narrative of the capture of the Sea Islands, November 1861 -- A Confederate Sermon : Georgia, November 1861 / Henry Tucker : God in the War, November 15, 1861 -- Richmond, Virginia, November 1861 / Jefferson Davis : Message to the Confederate Congress, November 18, 1861 -- The Army of the Potomac : Virginia, November 1861 / Harper's Weekly : The Great Review -- Slavery and the Press: November 1861 / Ulysses S. Grant to Jesse Root Grant, November 27, 1861 -- Shortages and Inflation : Virginia, Autumn 1861 / Sallie Brock : From Richmond During the War -- The "Trent" Affair : London, November-December 1861 / Benjamin Moran : Journal, November 27-December 3, 1861 -- War with England : London, November 1861 / Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams Jr., November 30, 1861 -- Washington, D.C., December 1861 / Abraham Lincoln : Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861 -- Preparing to Enlist : Boston, December 1861 / Charles Francis Adams Jr. to Henry Adams, December 10, 1861 -- A Song of the Contrabands : Virginia, 1861 / Let My People Go -- Not Relying on Foreign Aid : December 1861 / Robert E. Lee to George Washington Custis Lee, December 29, 1861 -- The President's Duty to Act : Washington, D.C., December 1861 / Edward Bates : Diary, December 31, 1861 -- Lincoln and McClellan : Washington, D.C., January 1862 / Irwin McDowell : Memorandum, January 10-13, 1862 -- "The bottom is out of the tub" : Washington, D.C., January 1862 / Montgomery C. Meigs, Memoir of Meetings with President Lincoln, January 10-13, 1862 -- "This army has got to fight" : January 1862 / Edwin M. Stanton to Charles A. Dana, January 24, 1862.