This course will approach the major issues of the American Civil War era from the perspective of ordinary Americans. We will confront a number of critical issues, including how Northerners and Southerners saw each other before the war, what kind of war did Americans imagine fighting after Fort Sumter, what was Civil War combat like, how did women meet the dislocations of war on the home front; How did African Americans pursue their meaning of freedom during Reconstruction. This class blends lectures, discussion, original letters, diaries, and visual evidence into a broad survey of the Civil War era.