The direct use of the Civil War as setting and theme in southern poetry has never been more pronounced than it was in the time of Timrod and Ryan.

One of the most noted poems of the 20th-century Southern Literary Renaissance, "Ode to the Confederate Dead" (the first version of this appeared in 1926), by Allen Tate, employs the dead soldiers of the South not primarily as defenders of a historical society but as symbols of a capacity for chivalric action that has been lost in the fragmented, narcissistic society of the present century.

Given the wealth of information about the Civil War already on the Internet, there is a relatively small amount of material that reflects women's lives and experiences during this time period.

Below are links to primary sources on the Internet that are directly related to women and the Civil War. This section of our Site presents detailed information on the key Battles of the Civil War. The thumbnails below will take you to extensive research resources, including pictures and maps.

We have also added a new Civil War forum (see link below), via which you can exchange your ideas and opinions regarding this critical part of American History with your peers. Here is a list of the top nine events that led progressively towards the Civil War. They are listed in chronological order.

It was the watershed of a new political and economic order, and the beginning of big industry, big business, big government. It was the first modern war and, for Americans, the costliest, yielding the most American causalities and the greatest domestic suffering, spiritually and physically.

Divergent social, economic, and political points of view, dating from colonial times, gradually drove the two sections farther and farther apart. Each tried to impose its point of view on the country as a whole.