"The Civilian Experience in the Civil War" Topic

"For many years the effect of the Civil War on civilian life was neglected in the history books. Telling the tales of generals and soldiers on the battleground during a brutal conflict naturally took precedence. But recently, with understandings shaped by their own times, historians have begun telling the story of the home front--Confederate and Union. This new approach focuses on the interaction between military and domestic events, and is grounded in the understanding that what happens on the battleground is never isolated from considerations of politics, government policies, economics, and morale, especially during a civil war. Nor are the lives of civilians--ordinary people in unusual times--removed from the events taking place on the battlefield, no matter how distant they may be.

Of course generalizations about the lives of the approximately 29 million Americans--North and South--who did not fight in the military come with difficulty and vary according to region, gender, class, and time. Like the rotation of a kaleidoscope with its shifting mirrors pointed at civilians, endless ways of seeing the civilian experience emerge…"
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