Profiles military leaders who chose to defy the odds and side with their home states in the South to form a new Confederacy.

Provides firsthand accounts of former slaves who wrote of their experiences during, and shortly after, the war.

Provides excerpts from letters, books, newspaper articles, speeches, and diaries which express various thoughts about the strategies, battles, personalities, and politics of generals during the Civil War.

Provides firsthand accounts of the women and families who lived through the most violent and divisive conflict in our nation's history and a unique perspective on what daily life was like in America during this devastating time.