steamboats "If we do not make common cause to save the good old ship of the Union on this voyage, no one will have the chance to pilot her on another voyage."
—Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, February 15, 1861

"I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came."
—Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, July 17, 1864

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Table of Contents

PART 1: A NATION DIVIDED
Comparing Literary Works
Stephen Crane An Episode of War Short Story 476
Stephen Foster, George Cooper Willie Has Gone to the War Song 481
Comparing Literary Works
Spiritual Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Song 488
Go Down, Moses Song 490
Frederick Douglass from My Bondage and My Freedom Nonfiction 496
Ambrose Bierce An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Short Story 508
Comparing Literary Works
Abraham Lincoln The Gettysburg Address Speech 522
Second Inaugural Address Speech 523
Robert E. Lee Letter to His Son Letter 525


PART 2: FOCUS ON LITERARY FORMS: DIARIES, JOURNALS, AND LETTERS
Comparing Literary Works
Mary Chesnut from Mary Chesnut's Civil War Nonfiction 536
Warren Lee Goss Recollections of a Private Nonfiction 540
Randolph McKim A Confederate Account of the Battle of Gettysburg Nonfiction 542
Stonewall Jackson An Account of the Battle of Bull Run Nonfiction 544
Rev. Henry M. Turner Reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation Nonfiction 545
Sojourner Truth An Account of an Experience With Discrimination Nonfiction 547


PART 3: FORGING NEW FRONTIERS
Comparing Literary Works
Mark Twain from Life on the Mississippi Nonfiction 564
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Short Story 569
Bret Harte The Outcasts of Poker Flat Short Story 580
Comparing Literary Works
Miriam Davis Colt Heading West Nonfiction 596
Chief Joseph I Will Fight No More Forever Speech 602
Jack London To Build a Fire Short Story 608


PART 4: LIVING IN A CHANGING WORLD
Kate Chopin The Story of an Hour Short Story 634
Edith Wharton April Showers Short Story 644
Comparing Literary Works
Paul Laurence Dunbar Douglass Poem 658
We Wear the Mask Poem 660
Comparing Literary Works
Edwin Arlington Robinson Luke Havergal Poem 666
Richard Cory Poem 668
Edgar Lee Masters Lucinda Matlock Poem 669
Richard Bone Poem 670
Willa Cather A Wagner Matinée Short Story 676