Primary source readers. Expanding & preserving the Union

Provides an overview of the military career of Robert E. Lee, renown for being the leader of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Looks at the life and political career of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, and features reproductions of related primary source documents.

Provides a brief, illustrated overview of the War of 1812, discussing causes as well as significant people, places, and events.

A brief overview of the life and military career of Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of the Union army during the Civil War and eighteenth President of the United States.

Offers a brief overview of the life of Lakota Chief Sitting Bull, discussing his childhood, early battles, refusal to give up his tribe's land to settlers, negotiations with white men, and other related topics.

A brief overview of the events leading up to the secession of states from the Union and the beginning of the Civil War.

Discusses the expansion of the United States over the course of its first century from a small country to one that extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, looks at how the U.S. obtained its land, and introduces some of the people who played key roles in the country's growth.

Brief profiles of Civil War leaders from both the Union and the Confederacy, and the events that made them famous.

Offers a brief overview of nine major battles during the American Civil War, providing information on the causes of the war, the major figures on both sides, the impact each battle had on the war's outcome, and other related topics.