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Annotated Bibliography Though few battles scarred North Carolina soil, the Tar Heel State's participation in the Civil War has been of great interest to historians. Civil War literature ranges from general reading and campaign narratives to children's books and scholarly texts. The following annotated list includes recent studies and classic readings. Politics / Coming of the War / General Women Home Front Soldier Life Campaigns and Battles Biography Medicine Navy First-Person Accounts Reference Slavery / Emancipation Soldier Life Bardolph, Richard. "Inconstant Rebels: Desertion of North Carolina Troops in the Civil War." North Carolina Historical Review 41 (April 1964): 163–189. Bardolph's account of deserters was the first to focus on this problem in North Carolina. ———. "Confederate Dilemma: North Carolina Troops and the Deserter Problem, Part I." North Carolina Historical Review 66 (January 1989): 61–86. ———. "Confederate Dilemma: North Carolina Troops and the Deserter Problem, Part II." North Carolina Historical Review 67 (April 1989): 179–210. Bardolph looks at motives for desertion and efforts to stop the problem. Faust, Drew Gilpin. "Christian Soldiers: The Meaning of Revivalism in the Confederate Army." Journal of Southern History 53 (February 1987): 63–90. Faust finds in the revivals of 1863–1864 symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder as well as unconscious efforts of farm-bred independent Southerners to conform to the mechanical rigors of military life and combat. Glatthaar, Joseph T. March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaign. New York: New York University Press, 1985. This study examines the daily experiences and motivations of the soldiers who terrorized North Carolina in the final month of the war. Hartley, Chris J. Stuart's Tarheels: James B. Gordon and His North Carolina Cavalry. Baltimore: Butternut & Blue, 1996. Hartley describes North Carolina cavalrymen and their charismatic leader in the Army of Northern Virginia. Linderman, Gerald F. Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War. New York: Free Press, 1987 Early war ideals of courage and manhood shrank in the face of unexpectedly fierce combat. Disillusionment and the effort to stay alive, rather than patriotism and courage, inspired soldiers in the final years of the war. Lonn, Ella. Desertion during the Civil War. New York: Century Co., 1928. This classic work is the only monograph on desertion. Mitchell, Reid. Civil War Soldiers: Their Expectations and Their Experiences. New York: Touchstone, 1988. Mitchell, who sees the differences between Confederate and Federal soldiers as culturally based and spurred by popular imagery, makes insightful observations about the Confederate soldier's loss of morale. McPherson, James M. What They Fought For, 1861–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. McPherson points to patriotism as a motivator for soldiers fighting in the final years of the war. Power, J. Tracy. Lee's Miserables: Life in the Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Appomattox. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. Well-researched narrative tracing the daily lives and continued confidence of Confederate soldiers, including many North Carolinians, in the final year of the Army of Northern Virginia.  Reid, Richard M. "Test Case of the ‘Crying Evil': Desertion among North Carolina Troops during the Civil War." North Carolina Historical Review 58 (July 1981): 234–262. Reid analyses desertion among Tar Heel regiments and finds that North Carolina's desertion rate was no more extreme than that of other states. Wiley, Bell I. The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1943. This classic volume set the standard for soldier life studies; though dated, it holds many insightful observations.

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