Making Connections: 3 War, Print, and Memory

War, Print, and Memory

From the end of the Civil War to the 1920s, when their numbers sharply dwindled, veterans of the conflict shared their experiences and perspectives on the War and the military units in which they served in scores of published reminiscences and memoirs. These are generally, if not always accurately, described as “regimental histories.” Many were written by enlisted men who endured the squalor and monotony of camp life, marched endless miles, and fought on the front lines. Others were written by men of higher rank who saw the overall design of battles and understood their strategic implications. Still others were written by spies, journalists, civilians, nurses, sanitaires, and other participants and observers of the War.

A gift from the late Robert Allen Ragland Sr., the Ragland Civil War Collection encompasses numerous first-hand accounts by men and women who experienced the battles and their aftermath, providing a vivid and often unvarnished perspective on the War.

Collection: Robert Allen Ragland Sr. Memorial Civil War