Question

Which of the following items could serve as a primary source for a historian studying the American Civil War?



A.
A journal written by a Civil War soldier describing a major battle




B.
A map of important Civil War battles printed in a military history textbook




C.
A documentary film describing important Civil War generals




D.
An essay about Civil War soldiers written by a modern graduate student

Answer 1

A primary source has to be a direct source. So the answer is 

A. journal written by a Civil War soldier describing a major battle

Answer 2

The correct answer is A. A journal written by a Civil War soldier describing a major battle

Explanation:

It is common that for understanding events form the past historians other experts use source that such as texts, photographs, records, etc. Additionally, these sources can be primary in the case they were written during the event studied and by someone that directly experienced or witnessed the event or secondary if a source is written using primary sources. This means if a historian wants to study the American Civil War the type of source that is primary should be one written during the event and that is a direct account of it and therefore the one that serves a primary source is "A journal written by a Civil War soldier describing a major battle" considering this is the only source that was written by someone who experienced the event and therefore a first-hand account of it.