McCall Library Collection of Civil War Letters the Foundation of New Book

Posted on January 30, 2026

Henry M. McKiven's book “Consequences of Confederate Citizenship: The Civil War Correspondence of Alabama's Pickens Family.” data-lightbox='featured'

University of South Alabama history professor Dr. Mel McKiven has authored a book entitled “Consequences of Confederate Citizenship: The Civil War Correspondence of Alabama's Pickens Family.” It highlights the correspondence between family members during the Civil War using resources exclusively from the University's Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

University of South Alabama history professor Dr. Henry “Mel” McKiven’s most recent book is “Consequences of Confederate Citizenship: The Civil War Correspondence of Alabama's Pickens Family.”

The letters in the book are all from the University’s Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library and were donated by the McCall family in 2011. McKiven says this is the first publication from the extensive McCall collection.

“I decided to do the book after seeing that the Civil War letters of the Pickens family are exceptional in that the correspondence consisted of letters from the family in Alabama to Samuel and James Pickens who served in the Army of Northern Virginia,” McKiven said. “Thousands of Civil War letters have survived, but relatively few collections are as complete as this one, and most collections include only the letters soldiers wrote home.”

McKiven spent 12 years compiling nearly 100 letters, tracing the family’s origins in North Carolina and their move to St. Stephens, Alabama, transcribing the letters and ultimately writing the book.

“The family was well educated and wrote long letters, so the transcription of the correspondence alone was 400 double spaced pages,” he said.

In the book’s acknowledgements, McKiven recognizes the McCall family and members of the University community who helped secure the collection.

“In this case, the book is a testament to the commitment of the University of South Alabama to supporting research in the humanities,” he said.

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