Civil War Manuscripts is a guide to the collections of the Manuscript Division that are made up of materials-either whole or in part-relating directly to the Civil War. The guide does not cover original materials in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, the Prints and Photographs Division, the Music Division, the Geography and Map Division, or the general collections. Although it is focused on the period of the war, it does include a few significant postwar items, such as materials concerning the assassination of President Lincoln, the trial of the Lincoln conspirators, and the Fitz-John Porter and Henry Wirz trials. No attempt has been made to survey collections concerning prewar politics and the secession controversy. Also, it is not a guide to entire collections unless those collections are composed wholly of materials relating to the war, which is why National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) numbers have not been included. Users will not necessarily be led to all of the material on any one subject; however, if they possess a good knowledge of the war and basic research skills, they can be reasonably certain of having been directed to most of the relevant items. In no case are all the papers of or about a single campaign, battle, individual, place, or topic contained in the Library of Congress. It is indeed rare when additional information on any subject cannot be found in other major libraries and archives.