Illinois's War

On the eve of the Civil War and after, Illinois was one of the most significant states in the Union. Its history is, in many respects, the history of the Union writ large: its political leaders figured centrally in the war's origins, progress, and legacies; and its diverse residents made sacrifices and contributions—both on the battlefield and on the home front—that proved essential to Union victory. The documents in Illinois's War reveal how the state and its people came to assume such a prominent role in this nation's greatest conflict. In these crucial decades Illinois experienced its astonishing rise from rural frontier to economic and political powerhouse. But also in these years Illinois was, like the nation itself, a "house divided" over the expansion of slavery, the place of blacks in society, and the policies of the federal government both during and after the Civil War. Illinois's War illuminates these conflicts in sharp relief, as well as the ways in which Illinoisans