The Source

Civil War Digital

By Michael K. Shaffer · Originally published October 2021 · p. 20

Civil War Digital During the early days of the sesquicentennial, Chet Hearn and Mike Marino started the Civil War Digital website: https:// www.civilwardigital.com/index. html. Since its inception, they have amassed many period documents, digitized them, and offered various collections for purchase online. Please take a look at the many different records they have available! For this review, an exploration of documents available for free – Civil War diaries – will serve as the focus. Begin your search at https://www.civilwardigital. com/html/civil_war_diaries. html. The managers of this collection provide the following tips on searching through the various diaries. They suggest: “To Keyword search the diaries, do one of the following: – Click on Browse Diaries…and open the file in the web browser. Use the Find function to search. [Or] Right Click on Browse Diaries… and download the file. Open in Acrobat Reader and use the Find function to search.” Each method works equally well; this example describes the web browser method. Upon clicking ‘Browse diaries offline,’ a .PDF file opens within your web browser. See the screenshot below. This writer uses the Safari browser on a Mac, but the various web browsers operate similarly.

A keyword search of ‘Petersburg,’ via the browser’s search function, yields 46 results. Please allow the search a little time to complete. When finished, researchers will see a page like the one shown. Selecting the ‘Adam K. Brown’ link displays images of the actual handwritten diary. See screenshot from the diary. Diaries offer modern historians a glimpse into the action of the moment, so spend some time investigating this source and continued good luck in researching the American Civil War!

Civil War Digital — photograph 2 from the original article

Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer, and instructor, who remains a member of the Society of Civil War Historians,

Civil War Digital — photograph 3 from the original article

Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Readers may contact him at mkscdr11@ gmail.com or request speaking engagements via his website www.civilwarhistorian.net. Follow Michael on Facebook www.facebook.com/michael.k.shaffer, and Twitter @michaelkshaffer.