The mission of CSACW is to promote and inspire the study of the American Civil War by providing historians access to primary original Civil War resources like letters, diaries and journals via the Internet.

How does the CSACW accomplish its mission?

The CSACW largely accomplishes its mission by partnering with private or individual collectors of Civil War resources who allow historians and scholars to access private collections via Internet technology through the CSACW web site. This partnership protects the private collectors' "ownership rights" but still provides the academic community access to these excellent resources for publication.