Civil War

The Topic:

Civil War

Easier - In the United States, the Civil War was between the Confederacy, or southern states, and the Union, or northern states. The U.S. Civil War, also called the War between the States, lasted from 1861 to 1865.

Harder - The U. S. Civil War is also known as the War Between the States and the War of Secession. It began April 12, 1861, when Southern troops opened fire on Fort Sumter, a U.S. military post in Charleston, S.C. More Americans were killed in the Civil War than any other war in history. The war divided the people of the United States; in some families brother fought against brother. The war ended four years later on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his ragged army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War

http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/

Read about two communities, one Northern and one Southern, in the time before and during the Civil War. Most of the information is through primary documents: letters, maps, newspapers, etc.

Spotlight Biography: Civil War

http://educate.si.edu/spotlight/civilwar1.html

Find brief sketches of a few of the memorable people from the Civil War era. Includes links and illustrated portraits for each person.

Civil War Battles by State

http://www.californiacentralcoast.com/commun/map/civil/statepic/

Site includes maps showing where Civil War battles were fought in each state, as well as brief descriptions of the battles.

Timeline for the Civil War

http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/index.html

Visit the History Place and learn about the Nation Divided.



There are hundreds of websites about the U.S. Civil War. Begin with the ones below. Complete a Civil War activity:

Be a War Correspondent. Visit Civil War Battles by State and select one specific battle. Pretend you are a news reporter and submit your report of the event. Or, copy a picture from the American Memories Civil War Photo site and pretend you participated in the event. You could even enhance the photo with Photoshop and put yourself in the picture.

Analyze a Battle. Pick an important Civil War battle. Trace the major events of the battle. Explain the battle sequence by drawing a map or constructing a diorama. Decide what factor(s) were most important in determining the battle's outcome.

Join a Civil War Unit. Select a well-known officer and pretend that you are under their direct command. Describe what it was like to serve under their command. See if you can trace the officer's military service throughout the war.

Select the Top 10 Events. Identify the ten most important events of the Civil War and create a timeline showing when and where they occurred. Get ideas for events from the This Week in the Civil Page.

Write a Letter or Journal Entry. Pretend that you received one of the letters. What would you write back? Or write a diary entry for one particular day during the war. Identify who you are. Describe what you think it was like for a person living in a small town, on the farm, or what life in a city was like.

Debate. Decide and debate the issues that caused the Civil War.

Complete a Civil War WebQuest. Adopt or modify the procedures to complete one or more of the following webQuests on the Civil War:

1) A Nation Divided (Grade 5) http://www.stonewall.fayette.k12.ky.us/wq/cwwebquest/civilwar.htm

2) If the Dead Could Talk (Grade 5)

http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/hschool/webq/webq44/civwar.htm

3) Civil War Gazette (Grade 8) http://www.itdc.sbcss.k12.ca.us/curriculum/civilwar.html

4) Spies in Disguise: Female Civil War Spies http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/hschool/webq/webq56/ctsp1.htm

5) Civil War Journey http://mason.gmu.edu/~cheskett/civjourney.html

6)While Battles Raged-A Civil War WebQuest

http://www.richmond.edu/~ed344/webquests/civilwarlife/

7) The American Civil War and why Brothers Fought Against Brothers (Grade 5) http://spidey.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch664/classrooms/room19/97-98/webquest.html

8) A Photographic Essay of the Civil War (Grade 5) http://www.lubbock.k12.tx.us/quests/CivilWarQuest/

9) The American Civil War

http://www.west-bend.k12.wi.us/webquest/civilwar/studen~1.htm

10) The Civil War http://curry.edschool.Virginia.EDU/go/edis771/98webquests/student/sbrentbaker/home.html

Websites By Kids For Kids

The American Civil War Experience (1996 ThinkQuest Project)

http://library.thinkquest.org/3055/netscape/

Read brief biographies of 23 Northern leaders and 16 Southern leaders and descriptive accounts of 25 of the most significant Civil War battles.

Other ThinkQuest Civil War Projects:

2) Civil War-Live (1996) http://library.thinkquest.org/2873/

3) Civil War Highlights (1996) http://library.thinkquest.org/2944/

4) Surviving Gettysburg (1997) http://library.thinkquest.org/13515/

5) Civil War (1999) http://library.thinkquest.org/27411/

6) The Battle of Gettysburg (1998) http://library.thinkquest.org/17525/main.htm

7) Underground Railroad at House of Compassion (1999) http://library.thinkquest.org/26073/

American Civil War (1999 ThinkQuest Junior Project)

http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5663/

On this Civil War site, you will find games and information on battles and people.

Other Civil War ThinkQuest Junior Projects:

2) The Civil War 1861-1865 (1999) http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5437/

3) The Union and Conferacy: Both Sides of the American Civil War (1999) http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5970/civilwar/

4) Civil War: Confederacy vs. Union (1999) http://tqjunior.advanced.org/6241/civilw.htm

5) The Civil War: The War of All Wars (1999) http://tqjunior.advanced.org/6305/aboutour.htm

6) Surfing the Civil War (1999) http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5219/

7) A Nation Divided (1998) http://tqjunior.advanced.org/3915/

8) Battle of Gettysburg (1999) http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5472/

Civil War for Kids (Pocantico Hills School, Sleepy Hollow, New York)

http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/civilwar/cwar.htm

Students created a timeline of important events, graphed data about the North and South, Civil War maps, Confederate and Union flags and uniforms, biographies of leaders, images, activity sheets, and links to other Civil War Sites.

A Baker's Dozen More

The American Civil War

http://www.californiacentralcoast.com/commun/map/civil/civil.html

Here you can find maps, timeline, profiles of the generals, exhibits on women in the war, flags, and major campaigns and battles highlight this site on the Civil War.

The Civil War

http://www.germantown.k12.il.us/html/CivilWar.html

This teacher-made website features facts, pictures, and links about the Civil War. Topics include abolition, sectionalism, Civil War trivia, peace,and more.

Time Line of The Civil War

http://www.civilwar.com/timebot.htm

Website contains a timeline plus pictures covering the major events of the war.

Civil War for Kids (Pocantico Hills School)

http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/civilwar/cwar.htm

This website offers a timeline, graphs of resources, and reports on Civil War leaders, as well as maps, flags, and activity sheets.

Civil War Medicine

http://www.powerweb.net/bbock/war/

Learn about medicine at the start of the Civil War, medical technology and transport, and amputations.

Civil War Womem: Primary Sources on the Internet (Duke University)

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/women/cwdocs.html

Listed here are links to primary sources on the Internet that are directly related to women and the Civil War.

Eyewitness: The American Civil War

http://www.ibiscom.com/cwfrm.htm

Here are interesting first-hand accounts including soldiers'descriptions of events at Gettysburg and Appomattox.

Jews in the Civil War

http://www.jewish-history.com/civilwar.htm

Research the Civil War from this collection of original documents written by Jewish people, both Union and Confederate.

Nation Divided (The History Place)

http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/index.html

Here you find a timeline and photographs of the U.S. Civil War from 1861 to 1865.

Poetry and Music of the Civil War

http://users.erols.com/kfraser/

If you wish to go beyond the study of facts of any war conflict, if you want to understand the thoughts and emotions of the people who faced each other across the battlefields and those who waited for them at home, then you must look to the poems and songs of the times.

Similar Websites:

2) Civil War Songs http://pabucktail.com/songs.htm

3) Poems and Songs of the American Civil War http://www.civilwarhome.com/poemssongs.htm

The Turning Point Of The Civil War

http://www.800padutch.com/gbgbattle.html

Although the Battle of Gettysburg did not end the war, nor did it attain any major war aim for the North or the South, it remains the great battle of the war. This websitee has a day-by-day account of the battle with maps of the army's positions.

United States Colored Troops in the Civil War (Lest We Forget)

http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/data.htm

Here you can learn about the history of regiments and the African American men who fought in the Civil War.

Women Soldiers of the Civil War By DeAnne Blanton

(National Archives and Records Administration website)

http://www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/women1.html

Men were not the only ones to fight that war. Women bore arms and charged into battle, too.



Civil War Diaries

Civil War Memories

http://www2.dmci.net/users/bmacd/default.htm

Site contains diary of Robert C. Carden, Company B, 16th Tennessee Infantry

Other Diaries:

2) Alice Williamson's Diary (Tennesse schoolgirl) http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/williamson/

3) Civil War Diary of Bingham Findley Junkin (100th Pennsylvania)

http://www.iwaynet.net/~lsci/junkin/

4) Civil War Diary of James Laughlin Orr, 1838-1919 (Sherman's March to the Sea)

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~churchh/civwdiar.html

5) Civil War Diaries http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow/diary.html

6) Diary of Henry (Carl) Ketzle (37th Illinois Infantry) http://www.ketzle.com/diary/

7) Memoirs, diary, and life of Private Jefferson Moses, Company G, 93rd Illinois Volunteers http://www.ioweb.com/civilwar/



Civil War Letters

Edgar Clark's Civil War Letters

http://people.mw.mediaone.net/jeffclark/edgar/ejmain.htm

The letters describe his encounters with Union and Confederate troops, battles, illness, injury, food and the living

conditions at the time.



Civil War - An Illinois Soldier

http://www.ioweb.com/civilwar/

Read the memoirs, diary, and about the life of Private Jefferson Moses, who fought in the Civil War.



Letter From an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War

http://www.civilwarletters.com/home.html

This is a first-hand account of a U.S. Civil War Union soldier written to family and friends, with photos of the actual letters.

Other Union Soldier Letters Websites:

2) The Civil War Letters of the Christie Family

http://www.mnhs.org/library/Christie/intropage.html

3) Civil War Letters of Edward Nicholas Boots (101st Pennsylvania Infantry)

http://members.aol.com/qmsgtboots/letters.html#12

4) James Hemphill Maclay: His Civil War Letters http://www.civilwararchive.com/LETTERS/james.htm

5) Hillory Shifflet Letters http://www.geocities.com/~jcrosswell/War/CW/hillory.htm



Civil War Love Letters

http://spec.lib.vt.edu/cwlove

Here are letters between soldiers on the battlefield and their loved ones.

Letters About The Civil War

http://www.civilwarhome.com/letters.htm

Here are letters from Confederate soldiers.

A Few Websites For Teachers

Lesson Plan: The Civil War

http://www.smplanet.com/civilwar/civilwar.html

Here is a lesson plan for discussing the US Civil War using historical fiction.

Other Civil War Lesson/Unit Plan Sites:

2) The American Civil War (Grade 9-12)

http://www.eng.auburn.edu/users/langfml/CivilWar.html

3) Civil War Lessons http://www.millville.org/Workshops_f/Siniav_Civil%20War/civil_intro.html

Lesson Plan on the Civil War (Grade 5)

http://www.adprima.com/social.htm

This plan focuses on the events leading the U.S. into the Civil War.

A Divided State by Kathy Dowd

http://curry.edschool.Virginia.EDU/curry/class/edis/590s4/Dowd/A_divi~1.htm

This site has a script for a short play about Virginia's involvement with the Civil War. Discussion questions follow the script

The Freedom Quilt (Grade 4-5)

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSSlaveryCivilWarFreedomQuilt45.htm

The students are to draw an event, symbol, person, or place which depicts slavery during the Civil War as a piece of a freedom quilt.

Role Playing the Civil War (Grade 5-7)

http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/soc/cecsst/cecsst020.html

The purpose of this unit is to provide a frame for the students to use in evaluating both points of view in the Civil War.



slavery infantry artillary ironclad Abraham Lincoln Monitor

Emancipation Proclamation gunboat earthworks battery General blockade

cavalry Robert E. Lee rebel yankee Ulysses S. Grant USS Virginia

rifle hardtack bombardment musket Sherman's March Manasses

Wilderness soldier uniform cannon Jefferson Davis Appomattox

Harpers Ferry Antietam slave states free states Fredericksburg Pickett's Charge

Vicksburg Fort Sumter
Matthew Brady
border states Gettysburg Address Battle of Gettysburg

Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson,Updated by Nancy Smith. Updated 01/02.