Your paper assignment is to compose a term paper of at least 8 to 10 pages on the history of a regiment from Western New York State that fought during the Civil War. Do not procrastinate! Research takes time.
You should examine your regiment's history against the backdop of broader social, political, and economic trends of the war. You are not simply writing a straight, blow-by-blow, campaign-by-campaign account of the regiment. Your paper should discuss:
* the social origins of its soldiers
* what happened to the regiment and its men throughout the war
* the connections between the soldiers and the home front
In essence, you are writing a history of the war on a very small-scale level.
Your first task is to figure out which regiment you want to write about in your paper. Here is a list of regiments from New York State, along with links to the names of soldiers in each regiment:
http://www.dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/rosters/rosters.htm
Once you have picked a sampling of soldiers, you can begin your research on each soldier in Ancestry.com. The link to that database may be found under the blue tab above labelled "Find Articles."
You're on your way!
