Mapping Civil War Narratives
A visualization of our U.S. Civil War correspondence.
Use these interactive maps to explore the multiple geographies of the Woodson Research Center's Civil War-era collections (1861-1865). These maps currently represent a sample of over 300 letters.
From military operations to disease to courtship, these maps convey the potential of our archives' diverse stories. You can, for example, follow the particular route of a soldier in the Army of the Potomac through his letters or explore the communication in and out of a single city. Use filters to see where men and women were discussing slavery, politics, battles, or military medicine.
Theaters of War
Our collection covers the various theaters of war where men and women wrote and received letters.
Click the points to view the total number of letters written and received in each city.
Eastern Theater
Our collection includes members of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry, 93rd New York Infantry, and 120th New York Infantry and their correspondents.
Click on the dots to learn how many letters were sent and/or received from that location.
Western Theater
Our collection includes members of the 27th Mississippi Infantry, 43rd Alabama Infantry, and 74th Illinois Infantry and their correspondents.
Trans-Mississippi Theater
Our collection includes members of the 77th Pennsylvania Infantry, the 91st Illinois Infantry, and officials and officers out of New Orleans and their correspondents.
Paths
Long before these documents reached our archives, they crossed military, political, geographic, and even international boundaries to create a complex wartime web of communication.
Click a route to explore these letters' journeys.
Zoom in to get a closer look at a particular collection, such as the Eseck G. Wilber U.S. Civil War Letters.
Eseck G. Wilber
Wilber was a twenty-two year old from Cairo, New York. He enlisted in the 120th New York Infantry on August 22, 1862. This map traces Wilber's service in Virginia through his letters to his parents back home.
Wilber wrote his parents diligently about everything from the monotony of camp life to his harrowing experience in the Battle of Fredericksburg to the excitement of President Lincoln's review of the troops .
Making his way through war-torn Virginia, Wilber often wrote of destruction to his parents. While in camp near Manassas, the site of the war's first major land battle, Wilber described the lasting mark these armies left on the landscape . In this letter, Wilber even included a hand-drawn map of the area.
In the same letter, Wilber even included a hand-drawn map of the area.
On October 10, 1863, Confederate forces captured Wilber and sent him to Belle Isle prison in Richmond, Virginia.
Wilber writes to his parents to notify them of his capture .
He was later transferred to Andersonville Prison in Georgia, where he died on September 15, 1864.
There are dozens of other personal geographies to explore, including that of Young Marshall Moody.
Young Marshall Moody
Moody was a 39 year-old businessman and slave owner from Demopolis, Alabama. After brief service with the 11th Alabama Infantry, Moody helped organize the 43rd Alabama Infantry and was promoted to Colonel.
Moody's letters to his wife, Frances, show his preoccupation with his family's actions and well-being at home while he served in the army.
On December 3, 1864, Moody took command of the brigade following the death of Brigadier General Archibald Gracie. Here, Moody wrote to his wife about the trials of his new command and of missing home at Christmas.
Because these letters are more difficult to read, please consult our transcription .
Moody was promoted to Brigadier General in March 1865. On April 8, 1865, Moody was captured at Appomattox Court House. General Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces to General Ulysses S. Grant there on the following day.
Following the war, Moody and his family moved to New Orleans. Moody died of yellow fever shortly thereafter, on September 18, 1866.
Undated photo of Young Marshall Moody, Library of Congress
Letter Locations
Explore this map to view the records we have for a particular location. You can see where letters were written, where they were received, and what places the authors mentioned within these letters.
Click a point to see the document's details. Use the arrows at the top right of the pop-up window to scroll through all the letters associated with that location.
Why Locations Mentioned?
By mapping locations mentioned, this view goes beyond peoples' physical locations to display the places they missed, read about, and heard rumors of. This strategy presents us with a much wider wartime geography.
Vicksburg, Mississippi, for example, was a popular topic of conversation across the country. Many soldiers, like Aaron Martin and Eseck G. Wilber, discussed and awaited news about General Grant's siege of the city during the summer of 1863.
This map also contains a number of other features.
Map Union Letters
Search the different locations that Union soldiers and politicians wrote, sent, and mentioned in their wartime correspondence.
Map Confederate Letters
Search the different locations that Confederate soldiers and politicians wrote, sent, and mentioned in their wartime correspondence.
Find Female Authors
This map also shows that soldiers were not the only people to write from or about far-away places.
Search the different locations that women wrote, sent, and mentioned in their wartime correspondence.
View a Single Letter
To see even more detail, you may also explore the geography of a single letter.
Here, Edwin Fosha of the 91st Illinois Infantry, writes to his wife in Morris, Illinois from Brownsville, Texas.
Themes
If you are interested in viewing letters across different collections, you can filter by theme:
Battles, Battlefields, and Skirmishes
Battles, for example, had resonance beyond the battlefield itself. From the physical carnage battles left behind or the rumors they created, soldiers and civilians continued to discuss, debate, and remember these conflicts long after they were over.
James Miller of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry describes his experience in battle to his brother.
Explore the locations where people mentioned battles, battlefields, or skirmishes.
Prisoners of War
Other soldiers had an entirely different wartime experience as prisoners of war.
An anonymous letter , written December 18, 1864, by an inmate of Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia and addressed to United States Senator William Wright of New Jersey.
Explore the letters written by soldiers while they were prisoners of war.
Military and Political Leaders
If your interest in more in the war's high command, you can search for the following officers and politicians:
Explore letters written by or that discuss major political leaders and military officers.
African Americans and Native Americans
Although African American and Native American authors are not currently represented in these collections, our letters hold fragments of these men's and women's important narratives.
Aaron Martin, a white Union solider working in the dispensary, hears about a celebration among some of the freedpeople at Cumberland Hospital .
Explore the locations where African Americans or Native Americans appear in the collection.
Now that you have seen some of the potential ways these maps can be used to explore our collections, try out both of the following interactive maps. First, explore the map that emphasizes location. Scroll further to view the map that emphasizes themes.
Look here for more detailed instructions on how to navigate these maps.
You can view or create filters by regiment, date, author's gender, collection, location, or topic. Alternatively, view the map's data in table format and select specific documents to view on the map. If you have a particular research question, you can also perform more in-depth data analysis and create customized map layers.
If you click on the "<<" in the upper left corner, you will reveal a legend that features letters by location information that you can turn on and off on the map.
If you click on the "<<" in the upper left corner, you will reveal a legend that features themes that you can turn on and off on the map.
