"Out of the three million who fought, six hundred thousand died. The U.S. Civil War affected not only the soldiers who fought, but everyone. It was a war that forever altered the lives of countless men, women, and children. Diaries, letters, journal entries, and newspaper articles recount the stories, feelings, and actions of people who experienced the war firsthand. In addition, this illuminating collection: brings together in one source information and experiences from the North and South, black and white, young and old, male and female; includes the writings of George Templeton Strong, Louisa May Alcott, Walt Whitman, and Ambrose Bierce; gives firsthand accounts of key events like the draft riots in New York City and the Siege of Vicksburg; and conveys the complexity of relationships between soldiers and civilians, Northerners and Southern African Americans, Union men and Southern women." "Civil War America: Voices from the Home Front recounts the personal experiences of slaves, slave owners, refugees, dissenters, journalists, veterans, widows, and orphans alike. Civil War buffs, students, scholars, and general readers will read stories of the war never told before."--Jacket.