Civil War Novels
UPDATED 5/09
The Black Flower
by Howard Bahr
Bushrod Carter stoically awaits each Civil War battle until the Battle of Franklin, during which the Union forces defeat Carter and the Army of Tennessee.
Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
John Brown preaches against slavery, and he plans to capture the arsenal at Harper's Ferry.
Mr. Lincoln’s Wars by Adam Braver
A collection of interwoven tales, told from the 16th president's own perspective as well as from the viewpoints of those whose lives he impacted, explores the human side of Lincoln during the crucial events of his life.
March by Geraldine Brooks
In a story inspired by the father character in "Little Women" and drawn from the journals and letters of Louisa May Alcott's father, a man leaves behind his family to serve in the Civil War and finds his beliefs challenged by his experiences.
White Doves at Morning by James Lee Burke
Despite their misgivings about "the Cause," Willie Burke and his best friends, three young men from New Iberia, Louisiana, enlist in the Confederate Army and head off to war, in a novel drawn from the author's own family history.
Bright Starry Banner by Alden R. Carter
Presents a fictionalized account of the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee during the Civil War.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Henry Fleming, a young Union soldier, struggles with his conflicting emotions about violence, death and the nature of bravery in this ironic, skeptical account of the Civil War.
The March by E.L. Doctorow
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating march through Georgia and the Carolinas during the final years of the Civil War has a profound impact on the outcome of the war.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
After Inman escapes from a war hospital in 1864 and starts walking to Cold Mountain, Ada struggles to save her mountain farm with the help of Ruby, an illiterate but efficient farmer.
On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon by Kaye Gibbons
A woman who loves the South but hates slavery goes North after the Civil War ends.
The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
A story based on the true experiences of a Civil War heroine finds Carrie McGavock witnessing the bloodshed of the Battle of Franklin, falling in love with a wounded man, and dedicating her home as a burial site for fallen soldiers.
Savannah, or, A Gift for Mr. Lincoln by John Jakes
Sherman's army marches from Atlanta to the sea in 1864, with the city of Savannah directly in its path. This directly threatens the livelihood of widow Sara Lester and her 12-year-old daughter Hattie, who struggle to save the family plantation.
Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles
Follows Adair, the daughter of modest farmers in the Missouri Ozarks, who is wrongly accused of enemy collaboration by the Union militia, as she falls in love with her interrogator and embarks on a perilous journey to find her family.
In The Fall by Jeffrey Lent
An interracial relationship between a Union soldier from Vermont and a runaway slave at the end of the Civil War initiates a haunting family legacy of war, racism and secrets that follows three generations from the end of the Civil War to the Great Depression
Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead
When Robey Childs's mother experiences a premonition about her husband, a Civil War soldier, she sends her only son to retrieve his father from the battlefield, accompanied by a horse that becomes his only companion as he makes his way through the destruction of war.
The Road from Chapel Hill by Joanna Catherine Scott
The lives and destinies of three young Southerners from vastly different backgrounds—Eugenia Mae Spotswood, daughter of a failed aristocrat; Tom, a slave yearning for his freedom; and Clyde Bricket, a farm boy responsible for Tom's capture—intertwine in the Civil War South.
Fires of Pride by William Trotter
Chronicles events of the Civil War in the South following the disaster at Gettysburg, focusing on the clash between Union and Confederate ironclads that not only affected the outcome of the war, but changed the course of warfare. Also try The Sands of Pride.