Civil War America: Voices from the Homefront describes the myriad ways in which the Civil War affected both Northern and Southern civilians. A unique collection of essays that include diary entries, memoirs, letters, and magazine articles chronicle the personal experiences of soldiers and slaves, parents and children, nurses, veterans, and writers.
Exploring such wide-ranging topics as sanitary fairs in the North, illustrated weeklies, children playing soldier, and the care of postwar orphans, most stories communicate some element of change, such as the destruction of old racial relationships, the challenge to Southern whites' complacency, and the expansion of government power. Although some of the subjects are well known—Edmund Ruffin, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Cabot Lodge, Booker T. Washington—most of the witnesses presented in these essays are relatively unknown men, women, and children who help to broaden our understanding of the war and its effects far beyond the front lines.