How to Research the Life and Military Service of a Confederate Soldier
Soon after the release of Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories, my editor at The Johns Hopkins University Press suggested a companion volume on Confederate soldiers. I eagerly began to work on the project, and realized that the research method used for Northern volunteers would have to be modified.
My basic approach has not changed — To better understand and appreciate a soldier's service, it is necessary to consider his war years in context to his entire life, the community in which he resided, and to the generation and culture in which he lived. However, some of the primary sources used to research a Southern soldier are different.
Try this fourteen-step method, How to Research the Life and Military Service of a Confederate Soldier, and please share your thoughts.
My basic approach has not changed — To better understand and appreciate a soldier's service, it is necessary to consider his war years in context to his entire life, the community in which he resided, and to the generation and culture in which he lived. However, some of the primary sources used to research a Southern soldier are different.
Try this fourteen-step method, How to Research the Life and Military Service of a Confederate Soldier, and please share your thoughts.
posted by Ron Coddington at 7:12 AM
1 Comments:
Very nice resource, Ron! You also might want to take a look at a little research guide that I put together a few years ago that, although focused on researching Maine Civil War ancestors, is also useful to anyone looking for info on Civil War soldiers. It's posted here on the First Maine Heavy Artillery website: http://www.cwoodcock.com/firstmaine/maine_ancestor_search.pdf (and yes; I realize that it could use some updating at this point...lol).
Regards,
Andrea S.
Post a Comment
<< Home