This reader tells the story of seventeen Northerners and Southerners who lived through the critical fifteen years prior to the Civil War.

Of Augustus Benners's Life -- Prelude to War: 1850-1860 -- The Civil War Years: 1861-May 1865 -- The Reconstruction Years: May 1865-1877 -- The Later Years, 1878-1885.

Chronologically arranged and framed with invaluable commentary and biographical sketches, this text offers unique insight into the heroic personalities and devistating aftermath of the Reconstruction period.

Using diaries, letters and other contemporary sources, this text follows 20 individuals (Northerners and Southerners) from the outbreak of hostilities at Fort Sumter to the Confederate surrender at Appomattox four years later.