Between the first shots fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, the nation was irrevocably changed, as were the lives of the soldiers and civilians who lived through the war. This is an extraordinary collection of stories about that epochal conflict, bringing the victories and defeats, the valor and the heartbreak, alive with personal intensity.

Introduction / by Lamar Underwood -- In the ranks / by Reverend R.E. McBride -- A Confederate soldier speaks his mind / by Carlton McCarthy -- America's deadliest day: one officer's story / by Frederick L. Hitchcock -- Lincoln at war: prominent letters and papers / by Abraham Lincoln -- A common soldier / by Leander Stillwell -- The soldier's life: a Confederate view / by Carlton McCarthy -- Robert E. Lee in command / by Captain Robert E. Lee (General Lee's son) -- Slaughterhouse at Fredericksburg / by Frederick L. Hitchcock -- Among the wounded / by Walt Whitman -- Confederate battlefields / by Carlton McCarthy -- How Private George W. Peck put down the rebellion (or funny experiences of a raw recruit) / by George W. Peck -- What I saw of Shiloh / by Ambrose Bierce -- Gettysburg: the decisive second day / by Abner Doubleday -- Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge / by Abner Doubleday -- Gettysburg: Lee's escape / by Abner Doubleday -- The truth about Gettysburg / by Helen D. Longstreet -- The clash of iron-clad titans: Merrimac vs. Monitor / by H. Ashton Ramsay, Major, C.S.A., Chief Engineer of the Merrimac -- The flag bearer / by Theodore Roosevelt -- Love, loss, and army life of the common soldier / by Leander Stillwell -- A night ride of the wounded / by Randall Parrish -- The unforgetable Private Peck: further adventures of a raw recruit / by George W. Peck -- Bull Run / by Joseph A. Altsheler -- Andersonville: Confederate prison horrors / by John L. Maile -- Chickamauga / by James R. Carnahan -- An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge / by Ambrose Bierce -- Army life in a Black regiment / by Thomas Wentworth Higginson -- Drummer boy from Maine / by George T. Ulmer -- Suffering and hatred / by Phoebe Yates Pember -- Vermont sharp shooters / by Wm. Y.W. Ripley -- Vicksburg during the trouble / by Mark Twain -- The Red Badge of Courage / by Stephen Crane -- An artilleryman's diary / by Jenkin Lloyd Jones -- A night / by Louisa May Alcott -- The rebel army life / by Carlton McCarthy -- A woman's wartime journal / by Dolly Sumner Lunt -- A horseman in the sky / by Ambrose Bierce -- To the sea: Sherman on the march: dispatches of Major General W.T. Sherman -- Last days of the Confederacy / by General John B. Gordon, C.S.A -- Decisive maneuvers to end the war / by Ulysses S. Grant -- Appomattox: how the war ended / by Ulysses S. Grant.