Internet Resources for Reenactors

There are numerous sites relating to the Civil War on the internet.  We have only listed those sites that feature civilian history.  Remember that most sites feature a page of links to even more sites, a useful way to expand your research to new topics.

• Civilian Reenacting Guides

• Reenacting Resources & Links
• Sutlers & Merchants of Reproduction Goods
• Western US Reenacting Organizations
• Reenacting in Europe & Abroad

• Civilian History Sites of Interest

• Databases

• Economy & Currency

• Recreations

• Letters & Memoirs

• Lists of Resource Links

• Music

• Photographs

• Slang, Terms, Speech

• Women in the Civil War
• Save our Civil War Historic Sites

Civilian Reenacting Guides

• School of the Civilian - Living the Memory's site for new civilian reenactors, very complete

• An Orientation to Civilian Reenacting - Good basic info, guidelines for making your own biography

• The Gentlemen's Page - Slick site loaded with guidance for gentlemen's attire & behavior

• Widow Rumbles' Homepage - Miscellany for civilians (graphic intensive)

• Costume Classroom - Online classes in historic costume, a superb resource for learning from experts (like Juanita Leisch!)

• Victoriana Fashion Timeline - An interactive woman's garment

• Pickett's Mill Refugee Page - Great info, and be sure to click the link to clothing guidelines.  Drawings and descriptions of refugee garb for men & women.

• The Victorian Lady - (and Victorian men, too)  Guide for new civilians

• Getting Started - 7th Texas Calvary guide to getting started in Civilian reenacting
• Michigan State Relief Association - UK group with well researched list of Civilian roles

Reenacting Resources & Links

• American Civil War Reenactor Images - Fascinating photographic gallery of lively living historians

• Living History On Line - Superb articles & info, new info regularly

• Civilian Links & More - Links, period articles on relationships between husband and wife.

• The Hardtack Page - Ken Anderson's complete guide to Hardtack-history, recipes, miscellany

• The Confederate Salt Company - info on the role salt & civilian industry played in the ACW
• How to recreate Calling Cards - complete instructions in PDF format
• JDS Commerce - nicely organized lists of internet resources for reenactors
• US Signal Corps - Info for the would-be telegrapher
• Originals by Kay - Excellent articles on history of corsetry & period clothing styles
• Camp Chase Gazette - Reenacting periodical with timely articles, military themed
• Civilian Companion - the Voice of Civilian Reenacting, read Fanny & Vera's regular column

Sutlers & Merchants of Reproduction Goods

• RACW Sutler Links Page - Complete contact information for virtually every sutler in the known universe

• Amazon Dry Goods - A comprehensive selection of civilian clothing patterns.  No on-line catalog, must order paper catalog.

West Coast Reenactment Organizations

• Reenactors of the American Civil War  (RACW, Northern California)

• American Civil War Association (ACWA, San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
• American Civil War Society (ACWS, Southern CA)
• Cascade Civil War Society (CCWS, Southern Oregon)
• Idaho Civil War Volunteers (ICWV, Idaho)
• National Civil War Association (NCWA, San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
• Nevada Civil War Volunteers  (NCWV, Nevada)
• Northwest Civil War Council (NCWC, Oregon)
• Washington Civil War Association (WCWA, Washington)

Reenacting in Europe & Abroad

• American Civil War Reenactors of Denmark (ACWRoD) - Union, Confederate & Civilian Units
• Kvinder i tiden under Den Amerikanske Borgerkrig 1861-1865 - ACW Civilian Unit in Denmark, featuring Fanny & Vera in Danish by special collaboration with Sandie Gram
• American Civil War Society - Largest Reenactment Society in the United Kingdom
  

Civilian Sites of Interest

• Lest We Forget - Black Soldiers & Civilians in the Civil War (thumbnail biographies) 

• Chicago Historical Society Artifacts - Wonderful, eclectic collection of Civil War items 

• American Memory Site - Library of Congress' extensive collections of Civil War images & information

• Civil War Potpourri - Articles on very interesting, but unusual topics

• Home of the American Civil War-Biographies Page - Short bios of era celebrities

• US Sanitary Commisison Site - Very complete and informative site, well organized

• Pat Pflieger's Site - 19th Century children and what they Read - great stuff!
• Midwest Civil War Civilian Conference - Learn from the experts and network with other civilians

Databases

• About.Com Civil War Site - Extensive links & information

• Smithsonian American History Archives - Enough info to keep you up all night for a month

• The Valley of the Shadow Project - Hypermedia archive of incredible proportions.

• Civil War Interactive - The best resources updated daily, but some sections require registration

Economy & Currency

• The CSA Currency Page - Information and images of Confederate currency, coins, stamps, bonds & more

• Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco - Info and excellent images of Civil War era currency

• Southern Comfort - Currency, articles, opinions, trivia from Southern perspective

Recreations

• 19th Century Etiquette - How to behave yourself
• The Soldier's Respite - Civil War gambling
• The Turner Brigade - feature article on the game of Chuck-a-Luck

Letters & Memoirs

• Virginia Tech Special Collections - Letters, documents, drawings, manuscripts & more

• Memoirs of Robert C Carden - Confederate soldier's memories

• Reminiscences of the Civil War - Memoirs of Cora Mitchel, Union supporters living in the CSA

• Duke University Collection - Women's diaries and manuscripts, including Rose Greenhow papers

• Letters of the Civil War - comprehensive collection of letters& diaries-military & civilians

Lists of Resource Links

• The American Civil War Homepage - Biggest, most complete list of internet resources around

• Civil War - Well organized list of links to very good sites on numerous topics

• US Civil War Center - Massive list of internet resources

• Civil War at Webfanatix 

• Resource Central's list of Civil War Resources

• JDS Commerce - Nicely organized lists of links to all things Civil War
• Civil War Interactive - Only the best of the best Civil War related sites

Music

• Poetry and Music of the Civil War - Collection of poetry, song lyrics-listen to songs via .wav files

• Civil War Music - Midi files play hits of the Civil War, very good quality audio

Photographs

• The Civil War Image Archive - Well organized photo album

• Roger Vaughn's Carte de Visite Site - Images from UK covering 1800's

• American Memory Site-Selected Civil War Photographs - 1,118 images + 200 autographed portraits in the Library of Congress Civil War scrapbook.

• The Daguerreian Society - Daguerreotype images, history & science.  The finest examples of Daguerreian images in the universe.

Slang, Terms, Speech

• Civil War Terminology - Military and Civilian Glossary

• Boone Bunny's Historical Hubub - Civil War Slang

• Civil War Slang Terms - Big list

Women's History

• Duke Univ. Primary Resources on the internet - Superb stuff!  Links, diaries, manuscripts

• Life During the Civil War - Slick site features vital information & new articles regularly

• Remember the Ladies - Biographies of Civil War women, many links to resources

• Thomas Jepson's Article on Women telegraph operators

Save our Civil War Historic Sites

• Civil War Preservation Trust - Save important Civil War sites from the developer's bulldozer

We strive to keep listings up-to-date, let us know if you find a good civilian site we can add to the directory.  Advise us of any broken links and we will remove the listing.  Thanks to our readers who have contributed these interesting sites!