The Civil War

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The Civil War

• Teaching LASTING Lessons in History

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Introduction

• The Civil War era is one of the most critical and
  fascinating in our nation's history. The many
  books about this period written for young
  audiences provide a rich context in which to
  learn about the Civil War itself and to explore
  more basic issues about the nature of human life
  and society. The following lesson plan for an
  upper elementary unit on the Civil War contains
  links to other Internet sites that can provide
  valuable cross-curricular materials for you and
  your students.
• CivilWar_at_Smithsonian homepage

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Objectives As a result of completing this unit,
students will be able to...

• discuss some of the social, political, and
  personal issues that Americans confronted during
  the Civil War era.
• use the Internet to locate resources related to
  the Civil War and incorporate information from
  these resources into their own writing.
• define historical fiction and identify some of
  the techniques writers use to create good
  historical fiction.
• discuss the central issues of the Civil War from
  a variety of different perspectives.
• share their personal reactions to what they have
  learned in both small-group and whole-class
  discussions.

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Building Background

• At the start of the unit, guide the students in
  creating a KWL chart to tap into their prior
  knowledge and discover what they want to know
  more about.
• www.civilwar.com

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Background and Causes of the War

• A. Economic developments in the U.S.
• B. Slavery
• C. States Rights vs. Strong Federal Government

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Civil War TimeLine

• For an overview of Civil War chronology, you can
  direct them to the Civil War timeline provided
  online by the Library of Congress. You might also
  encourage them to research relevant topics,
  perhaps assigning pairs or small groups to become
  "resident experts" in specific areas. A few of
  the topics they might explore are

• the Harpers Ferry Raid
• Abraham Lincoln
• the Battle of Bull Run
• the Battle of Gettysburg
• the Battle of Shiloh
• General Robert E. Lee
• General William Sherman
• the Underground Railroad
• CivilWar_at_Smithsonian Timeline

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Genre Study Historical Fiction

• Many of the books in the list of recommended
  titles are historical fiction. Ask students what
  they know about this genre, and have them list
  examples of historical fiction that they have
  read in the past. Make sure they understand that
  historical fiction is based on events that
  actually happened -- such as the Civil War, the
  Battle of Gettysburg, and the assassination of
  President Lincoln -- but the main characters and
  the specific events in those characters' lives
  are made up by the author. A writer of historical
  fiction researches the time and place that will
  be the setting of a story before he or she begins
  writing. Besides reading history books, the
  writer may study personal journals and letters,
  newspaper articles, photographs, art, and
  literature from the period. All of these primary
  sources provide the "flavor" of the historical
  period so that the writer can make the setting
  and events come alive for readers.

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Integrating Reading and Writing
You can use the following activities to help
students integrate their own writing with the
reading they are doing in the unit.

• Select one of the minor characters in a book you
  have read, and write a series of journal entries
  using the voice of that character. Before you
  begin writing, think about the following
  questions What experiences has the character
  had? How do you think he or she might feel about
  these experiences? What hopes or dreams might the
  character have? How does the character feel
  toward other characters in the book, and why?

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Integrating Reading and Writing

• Write a speech in which you express the views of
  an abolitionist or of someone who wants to
  preserve the institution of slavery. Before you
  begin writing, make an outline of the major
  points you want to make. Decide who your audience
  will be, and think of ways in which you could
  appeal to the emotions of this audience. When you
  have completed a first draft of your speech,
  practice delivering it to a friend or family
  member. Ask your practice audience for advice on
  revising your speech to make it more powerful and
  persuasive.
• Imagine that you have been transported through
  time to the Civil War era. Write a story telling
  about the adventures you have there. First think
  about the geographical setting of your story --
  did you land in the North or the South? Whom did
  you meet there? What happened next? How does it
  feel to be in the middle of a civil war? When you
  have written a first draft of your story, share
  it with a classmate and talk about ways you could
  improve the story in the revision stage.

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Recommended Trade Books

• Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty (Morrow,
  1987).
• Eben Tyne, Powdermonkey by Patricia Beatty and
  Phillip Robbins (Morrow, 1990).
• Jayhawker by Patricia Beatty (Morrow, 1991).
• Turn Homeward, Hannalee by Patricia Beatty
  (Morrow, 1984).
• With Every Drop of Blood by James Lincoln Collier
  and Christopher Collier (Delacorte Press, 1994)
• Lincoln A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
  (Clarion Books, 1987).
• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (Follett, 1964).
  
• Escape from Slavery The Boyhood of Frederick
  Douglass in His Own Words edited by Michael
  McCurdy (Alfred A. Knopf, 1994)
• The Story of Booker T. Washington by Patricia
  and Fred McKissack (Childrens Press, 1991)
• The Boys' War by Jim Murphy (Clarion Books,
  1990).
• Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder (Macmillan,
  1989).
• Harriet Tubman by M. W. Taylor (Chelsea House
  Publishers, 1991
• Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
  (Doubleday, 1963)

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Enrichment Activities

• A Matter of Perspective
• The Language of History
• Music of the Civil War

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A Matter of Perspective

• The people fighting on two sides of a war
  obviously have some major differences of opinion.
  But, as Carolyn Reeder's novel Shades of Gray
  emphasizes, there can also be a wide range of
  opinions among people supposedly on the same side
  of a conflict. Encourage students to discuss and
  research some of the different perspectives that
  various groups of Americans had on the Civil War.
  For example, they might compare Hannalee Reed's
  impression of General William Sherman in Turn
  Homeward, Hannalee to the attitude toward the
  general expressed in General Sherman and His Boys
  in Blue, a poem by Union soldier Captain Richard
  W. Burt. They might also juxtapose the attitudes
  and experiences of African American soldiers and
  white soldiers who fought for the Union cause.
  The film Glory provides some insight into this
  topic.

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The Language of History

• From the first pages of many historical novels,
  students will notice that the authors have used
  authentic language from the Civil War period to
  make their characters' dialogue sound realistic.
  Words such as "git" ("get"), " 'taters"
  ("potatoes"), and "furriner" ("foreigner") are
  examples of regional dialect (here, the dialect
  of southern Illinois). Expressions such as
  "hopping the twig" ("getting married") and
  "bluebellies" ("Union soldiers") are examples of
  idioms or slang used in that era. On the
  Internet, students can access a list of Civil War
  slang with modern definitions. Interested
  students may write their own Civil War-era
  stories or journal entries using some of this
  language.

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Music of the Civil War

• As students will learn from their reading, the
  experiences of soldiers in the Civil War were
  neither romantic nor fun. When they were not
  facing the horrors of battle, soldiers had to
  deal with boredom and homesickness. Music was one
  way that soldiers could both pass the time and
  remember home and family. They whistled or sang
  familiar songs while performing menial duties,
  and some played instruments such as harmonicas
  and fiddles during their free time. Ballads
  composed during the war told moving tales of
  soldiers' honor, grief, and courage. Students
  interested in this aspect of the war can research
  the songs that were popular among Union and
  Confederate troops. One resource is the Songs of
  the Civil War web site, which offers a cassette
  tape of selected songs with informative
  narration. Another is the American Memory web
  site from the Library of Congress, which offers a
  collection of American sheet music from
  1850-1920, including a page on Civil War songs,
  and a collection of post-Civil War era sheet
  music, 1870-1885. Students who locate audio tapes
  or CDs of Civil War music may select songs to
  enhance dramatic readings of their creative
  writing from this unit. Students could also study
  the lyrics of Civil War-era ballads and report on
  common themes in the songs, perhaps comparing
  these songs with those written to commemorate
  other wars

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The War Between the States

• Civil War Battle Summaries by State
• Civil War Maps Collection

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Abraham Lincoln

• Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)Sixteenth President
  (1861-1865)
• Abraham Lincoln
• Abraham Lincoln Resources

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Slavery

• The Underground Railroad

North American Slave Narratives, Beginnings to
1920
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Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was issued on
  January 1, 1863
• Emancipation Proclamation

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The Gettysburg Address

• The Gettysburg National Cemetery was dedicated by
  President Abraham Lincoln a brief four months
  after the Battle. Lincoln's speech lasted only
  two minutes, but it went into history as the
  immortal Gettysburg Address.
• GCVB Member

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President Lincolns Gettysburg Address

• Shown here in Lincoln's own hand, the Gettysburg
  Address was only two minutes long

What you'll find here The story of Lincoln's
famous address.
http//www.gettysburg.com/bog/ga.htm
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A Nation Divided
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Unit Wrap-Up
At the close of the unit, you may wish to bring
the whole class together for a wrap-up
discussion. The following questions can serve as
a guide for this discussion.

• Which character in the books you read did you
  find the most interesting? Why? What ideas and
  feelings about the Civil War did this character
  have? How did these ideas and feelings change
  over the course of the book? What experiences did
  the character have that caused these changes?
• After studying the Civil War era, do you think it
  is obvious which side was right and which was
  wrong? What issues were at stake in the war
  besides the continuation of slavery? Did your
  opinions or feelings about the war change as a
  result of your work in this unit? If so, how?
• Did you find the Internet helpful in learning
  more about the Civil War? Which sites were the
  most helpful or interesting? Is using the
  Internet a fun way to find information? What
  other topics would you like to explore on the
  Net?