Help for accessing this collection

Search Help Topics

Finding people

• On the People page, type the person's first and last name in the "Search name index" boxes. Then press "Search."
• Results of original documents that contain that name will appear.
• To see a wider range of results, fill in only the "Last name" box or use the "Search all fields" box.
• To see fewer results, go to the Search page and type in the person's first or last name into any keyword box and set the field to People, Description, or Full Text. Then add other search terms and fields and press "Search."

Finding battles

• On the Battles page, type the name of a battle in the "Search battle index" box. Then press "Search."
• Results of original documents containing passages describing that battle will appear. Note: Only 33 of the 500 battles in which Wisconsin troops fought are indexed this way.
• To see a wider range of results, use the "Search all fields" box. Note: Many battles had multiple names, such as Shiloh and Pittsburg Landing. Use variations to retrieve more results.
• To see fewer results, go to the Search page and type the name of a battle into any keyword box. Then add other search terms and fields, such as Event, Date, or Place, and press "Search." Undated documents will appear first.

Finding regiments

• On the Regiments page, type a regiment name in the "Search regiment index" box using this format: "14th Infantry" or "3rd Light Artillery."
• Results of original documents with passages describing that regiment's activities will appear. To sort documents chronologically, click "Event Date" at the top right-hand side of the page.
• To see a wider range of results, enter the regiment name in the "Search all fields" box.
• To see fewer results, go to the Search page and type the regiment name into any keyword box. Then add other search terms and fields, such as Date or Place, and press "Search."

Finding places

• On the Places page, type either the two-letter abbreviation of a state (ex. "VA") or the full name of a local place in the "Search place index" boxes. Then press "Search."
• Results of original documents with passages describing what happened in that place will appear.
• To see a wider range of results, search using one box only (State or Place), or use the "Search all fields" box.
• To see fewer results, go to the Search page and type the place name into any keyword box. Then add other search terms and fields, such as Date or Regiment, and press "Search."

Finding topics

• On the Search page, type a term into any keyword box. For example: "combat" or "women".
• Click on the "Fields" drop down and choose "Topic".
• Press "Search." Results of original documents with passages describing your specific topic will appear.
• To find other topics, go back to the search page and type in a term using the "Full Text" field.
• To see fewer results, type the topic into any keyword box. Then add other search terms and fields, such as Date or Regiment, and press "Search."

Finding maps

• On the Search page, type the word "map" into the keyword box.
• Click on the "Fields" drop down and choose "Source Type." Then press "Search."
• Results showing original maps will appear.
• To see fewer results, go to the Search page and type the word "map" into any keyword box and select the "Source Type" field. Then add other search terms and fields, such as Date or Place, and press "Search."
• To zoom in: click anywhere on the map. (This works for most maps.)
• To zoom out: Use your browser's back button or the buttons on the CONTENTdm image toolbar.
• Maps printed inside books have limited zoomability.
• Find more map information in the Map and Atlas collection.

Finding images

• On the Search page, type the word "image" into the keyword box.
• Click on the "Fields" drop down and choose "Source Type." Then press "Search."
• Results showing original images will appear.
• To see fewer results, go to the Search page and type the word "image" into any keyword box and select the "Source Type" field. Then add other search terms and fields, such as Date or Place, and press "Search."
• To zoom in: click anywhere on the image. (This works for most images.)
• To zoom out: Use your browser's back button or the buttons on the CONTENTdm image toolbar.
• More Civil War images that cover a wider range than Wisconsin are available online at Wisconsin Historical Images.

Date search

• On the Search page, type in exact dates in a keyword box using the format: year, month, date (example: 1865-04-14, the day Lincoln was assassinated).
• Click on the "Fields" drop down list and choose "Event Date." Then press "Search."
• Results of original documents that contain that date will appear.
• To see fewer results, go to the Search page and type the date into any keyword box and select the "Event Date" field. Then add other search terms and fields, such as Battle, Regiment or Place, and press "Search."
• To see more results, try truncating the search term to search only month and year in this format: year, month (example: 1865-04-). Since most original sources were written in the days that followed an event, searching by only month and year will retrieve more results.

Keyword search

• On the Search page, type any word or words into the keyword box.
• Click on the "Fields" drop down list and choose "Full Text." Then press "Search."
• Results showing original documents using those key words will appear.
• To see fewer results, go to the Search page and type your term into any keyword box and select the "Full Text" field. Then add other search terms and fields, such as Date or Place, and press "Search."
• To search within a particular document, enter a term into the "Search this object" box at the upper left of the document viewer.
• Note: Keyword searching has limited value, since thousands of pages of handwritten manuscripts and newspaper clippings do not have reliable electronic texts. Be sure to complement a "Full Text" search by searching other fields on the main Search page.

Basic Help Topics

Viewing documents

• Original source documents display in the CONTENTdm document viewer.
• To zoom in: click anywhere on a document. (This works for most documents).
• To zoom out: use your browser's back button or the buttons on the CONTENTdm image toolbar.

Printing documents

• Right-click on a document and select "Copy Image" (or its equivalent).
• Paste the file into an application on your computer, such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, and then print the image from that application.
• See "Downloading" for instructions on printing a range of selected pages.

Downloading

• To download an entire document or a subset of a document, click the drop-down at the upper left of the document viewer and choose either "Subset of Print Version" or "Complete Print Version" and then click the "Go" button.
• Selecting "Complete Print Version" will automatically download all pages within the complete document that you were viewing.
• Selecting "Subset of Print Version" will open a popup window allowing you to select pages within the document that you were viewing.
  
  
  • In the popup window, choose the specific page or pages and click the "View subset" button. The pages will now appear in the right section of the popup window in PDF format.
  • To save the selected pages as a PDF to your own computer, click the "disc" icon in the PDF toolbar in the top left of the screen.
  • To print the selected pages, click the "printer" icon in the PDF toolbar in the top left of the screen.

Citations

• To view bibliographic data for the document, click the drop-down at the upper left of the document viewer and choose "Document Description" from the drop down list. Then press "Go."
• Bibliographic data for the document will appear on the right.
• Copy and paste the bibliographic data into your preferred citation manager.

How to buy an image

• Most images and maps are available for purchase as high-quality reproductions.
• If the map or image is a stand-alone document, scroll to the description below the image or map. Then copy its title, and paste it into the keyword box at Wisconsin Historical Images and click the "Submit" button. Then click on the image in the results list and use the "Buy This Image" button below the picture to learn about pricing and place an order.
• At this time, images and maps in books or newspaper clippings may not be available in Wisconsin Historical Images for purchase. If you encounter a map or image that is not available in Wisconsin Historical Images, please notify us using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page. We will inform you if we can make the image available for purchase.

Finding documents not online

• Thousands of publications, images, and manuscripts about Wisconsin in the Civil War are not included online. They may be protected by copyright, too fragile to digitize, or unavailable online for other reasons. They are still available for in-person use.
  
  
  • To find books and other publications, use MadCat, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's computer catalog.
  • To find unpublished manuscripts and government archives, use ArCat, the Wisconsin Historical Society's computer catalog of unpublished records.

Rights and Permissions

All material may be printed or downloaded at no cost for nonprofit educational use by teachers, students and researchers. Nothing may be reproduced in any format for commercial purposes without prior permission.

Sensitive Content

The original documents have not been censored or edited. They may contain language that many people today find offensive. For example, a wide variety of synonyms are used for "African-American" which to modern ears sound inflammatory. In the mid-19th century, however, most Americans did not find these terms offensive or even pejorative. Other documents contain vivid descriptions of horrifying cruelty, nauseating carnage during combat, or the revolting aftermath of battles. Teachers and parents should understand that young readers may be emotionally affected by these passages. Before using the collection in the classroom, educators should preview search results and be prepared for such situations.

Contact Us

If you need more help, email us. We can usually reply quite promptly. You'll find an "Email Us" button at the bottom of most pages.