The Springfield Republican is an important tool in understanding the effects of the Civil War on Dickinson's life and work. As Roger Lundin asserts in Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief, the Springfield Republican, "one of America's most influential newspapers" (102), was one of fifteen publications (both magazines and newspapers) that the Dickinson household subscribed to. Not only was it widely read by the family, but the Springfield Republican was edited by long-time family friend and Dickinson correspondent Samuel Bowles. There is no doubt that Dickinson's knowledge of the outside world and the events of the Civil War were filtered through the pages of the Springfield Republican.

The issues of the Springfield Republican included here contain poems composed by Dickinson or War news important to Dickinson. The issues which include her poems are those of May 4, 1861 with "May Wine" ("I taste a liquor never brewed -"); March 1, 1862 with "The Sleeping" ("Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -"); March 30, 1864 with "Sunset" ("Blazing in Gold, and quenching in Purple"); and March 9, 1864 with "Flowers" ("Flowers - Well - if anybody"). Also included with these issues are articles that directly surround her poems and any articles with Civil War news. Lundin notes that some of the poems came from letters to Bowles and that they "were published without her permission" (105).

The March 20, 1862 selection includes the account of the Battle of Newbern and the death of Frazar Stearns. The April 15, 1862 selection details the dedication of the cannon from the Battle of Newbern to Amherst College in honor of Adjutant Frazar Stearns.

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