Welsh Writing from the American Civil War

Nearly ten thousand pages of writing in the Welsh language stemming directly from the American Civil War has survived in print and in manuscript. This is the first book-length treatment in English of a new field - the reactions of Welsh-American writers to the Civil War. This study defines 'literature' broadly, considering the letters and diaries of soldiers and civilians who lived through the war as well as the poetry and prose of Welsh America's more 'professional' writers. It looks at ways in which the Civil War effected the articulation of Welsh-American national identity, and it examines literary expressions of Welsh-speaking Americans' commitment to the cause of Abolition.