Volumes 1 through 5 cover the major battles of the Civil War chronologically from 1861 to 1865. Volume 6 contains biographies of key figures in this conflict.

1. 1861 -- 2. 1862 -- 3. 1863 -- 4. 1864 -- 5. 1865 -- 6. Leaders and index. V. 1. 1861: America's bloodiest war / James M. McPherson -- 1861: an overview / James I. Robertson, Jr. -- The Bombardment of Fort Sumter / Albert Castel -- The creation of West Virginia / James M. McPherson -- First manassas / V.C. Jones -- Goodbye to the three-months' war / James M. McPherson -- The Civil war west of the Mississippi. The contest for Missouri / James M. McPherson - Wilson's creek / Dee Brown - The Siege of Lexington / Albert Castel - Pea ridge / D. Alexander Brown - Guerrilla warfare on the border / James M. McPherson - The Lawrence raid / Dwight E. Stinson - The struggle for the Southwest / James M. McPherson - The New Mexico campaign / Broech N. Oder -- Life in Civil war America / Maury Klein. V. 2. 1862: 1862: an overview / James I. Robertson Jr. -- Forts Henry and Donelson. Fort Henry / Edwin C. Bearss and Howard P. Nash - Fort Donelson / Stephen E. Ambrose -- The Battle of Shiloh / Wiley Sword -- The Eastern theater at the beginning of 1862 / James M. McPherson -- Bound for Hampton roads. Bound for Hampton roads / Edward Miller - Notes on the Navies / James I. Robertson, Jr. -- Two fronts in Virginia / James M. McPherson -- Stonewall in the Shenandoah / James I. Robertson, Jr. -- From the valley to the peninsula / James M. McPherson -- The Peninsula campaign / Emory Thomas -- Second manassas / Dennis Kelly -- Politics, slavery, and diplomacy in the Antietam campaign / James M. McPherson -- The Battle of Antietam / Stephen Sears -- Emancipation at home and abroad / James M. McPherson -- The Western theater after Shiloh. Confederate offensives in the West / James M. McPherson - Victory at Corinth / Albert Castel - Perryville / Stanley F. Horn - The Battle of Stone river / James Lee McDonough -- A somber December in the North / James M. McPherson -- The Battle of Fredericksburg / Edward J. Stackpole. V. 3. 1863: 1863: an overview / James I. Robertson, Jr. -- The Northern winter of despair / James M. McPherson -- The Battle of Chancellorsville / Joseph P. Cullen -- The Battle of Gettysburg / Jeffry Wert -- "Our other late successes" / James M. McPherson -- Struggle for Vicksburg / Stephen E. Ambrose -- The summer of Southern despair / James M. McPherson -- The Battle of Chickamauga / Glenn Tucker -- The battles for Chattanooga / Glenn Tucker. V. 4. 1864: 1864: an overview / James I. Robertson, Jr. -- Wilderness and Spotsylvania / Joseph P. Cullen -- Drewry's bluff and cold harbor / James M. McPherson -- The Siege of Petersburg / Joseph P. Cullen -- Early and Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley. The battle that saved Washington / Robert E. Morsberger - The Battle of Winchester / Joseph P. Cullen - Fishers Hill / Jeffry Wert - Cedar Creek / Joseph P. Cullen -- Sherman faces Johnson in Georgia / James M. McPherson -- The campaign for Atlanta. From Dalton to Atlanta / Allen Phelps Julian - The fighting at Atlanta / Wilbur G. Kurtz, Sr. -- The final turning point / James M. McPherson -- Farragut at Mobile Bay / V.C. Jones -- From Atlanta to the sea / James M. McPherson-- Sherman's Savannah campaign / Richard McMurry -- Hood's Nashville campaign. To rescue the Confederacy / Campbell H. Brown - Bloody Franklin / Hugh F. Walker - The Battle of Nashville / Stanley F. Horn. V. 5. 1865: 1865: An overview / James I. Robertson, Jr. -- "South Carolina must be destroyed" / James M. McPherson -- The end in the Carolinas. Burning Columbia / Robert L. Crewdson - The South's last gasp / James M. McPherson - Bentonville / Jay Luvaas -- The campaign to Appomattox / William C. Davis -- "The last speech he will ever make" / James M. McPherson -- The assassination of Abraham Lincoln / Robert H. Fowler -- The common solider of the Civil war / Bell I. Wiley -- From union to nation / James M. McPherson. V. 6. Leaders and index: Abraham Lincoln. The military strategist / T. Harry Williams - Commander Lincoln at Norfolk / Robert H. Joynt - "A few appropriate remarks" at Gettysburg / Robert H. Fowler - The man, the myth / Stephen B. Oates - Photographs of Lincoln: the burden of years -- Jefferson Davis / Bell I. Wiley -- Ulysses S. Grant / Grant - genius or fortune's child? / Wilbur S. Nye - The singing wire conspiracy / Howard C. Westwood - Grant remembers appomattox / John Russell Young -- William T. Sherman / Albert Castel -- Robert E. Lee / Mark Grimsley -- Stonewall Jackson / Mark Grimsley -- Recommended reading -- Index.