Mission Statement



This site is dedicated to the preservation of American Civil War information, particularly the correspondence and diary entries of soldiers who served in the field and elsewhere. We hope that by providing a comprehensive and searchable archive of this information a more complete picture of one of the bloodiest chapters in American history can be better understood by researchers, historians, and students alike.

Unlike other Civil War databases, this one will remain free and open to the public. But it depends on your cooperation. If you have letter or diary transcripts, please consider uploading them. It's a very simple process and you can take pride in knowing you are helping to preserve history for posterity. We do not exploit or profit from this information. The creators of this site are Civil War enthusiasts with altruistic intentions.

Here in this ultimate public domain (the Internet) historians, teachers, students and researchers can use these documents for their research and study. This is how history should be, not privately collected, hoarded, and jealously protected from others. We here at SoldierStudies.org have no problem with historians and collectors who share their collections. We have no problem with archives that allow fair and easy access. Its appalling that history is sold to the highest bidder on ebay and other places, without care or concern for where those letters will ultimately end up. Sometimes lost to us forever. For example, read this: Soldier’s Letters Rescued from Trash Pile…

We also collect transcripts from archives and universities. The goal is to create a central location for the largest (future) collection of Civil War letters and all in a searchable database that is open to the public.

IS THIS LEGAL? Absolutely. For unpublished documents, the copyright belongs to the author from the date of death + 70 years, when pertaining to authors who died before 1937. At that point the documents enter public domain. Fair use statement: This material is put online to further the educational goals of Soldier Studies. org. This material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.

Note: Possession/ownership does not equate to copyright. Just because an archive or person has ownership of Civil War letters, that does not mean we have to get their permission to publish the letter's content. They do not have to allow us access to their documents, but they cannot stop us from publishing transcripts if we so desire. And we do.

WE do also purchase Civil War letters and return them (once transcribed) to open Archives for public use. We also accept donations from private collectors.

If you are interested in searching through our archives, you may do so without registering. If you are interested in contributing a correspondence (letter or diary) and/or soldier information, you may register as a Contributor.

NOTE: If you wish to allow us to post transcripts but DO NOT have the time to enter the information, we have volunteers who will. Please contact Chris Wehner (email below) to send those transcriptions. You will be fully credited and if you have a website a link will be provided for EVERY letter or correspondence uploaded.