Animated Lessons
US Civil War
Related Topics and Subtopics:
Civil War Letters - The lesson begins with an analysis of what historians can learn from ordinary Americans whose Civil War letters were preserved. It begins with the moving and memorable "Sullivan Ballou" letter (since made famous by The Civil War series), and then asks students to analyze a variety of primary source letters online. Next, students are put into pairs of letter-writing correspondents living in 1863. Partners represent a variety of American voices, North and South, and the lesson emphasizes the important roles women played during the war. As the memorable events of 1863 unfold -- the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, the New York City draft riots -- students respond to events and recount how their lives were affected. Suggestions are made at the end of the lesson for implementing the letter writing paradigm using a different sequence of Civil War events. (M, O)
Walt Whitman: Patriot Poet - Walt Whitman, journalist and poet, created poems that are boldly American in style and substance. He idealized American leaders and workmen, chronicled Civil War battles, praised 19th Century technology, and memorialized Abraham Lincoln. While his perspective changed as the nation developed, Whitman’s poems retained their democratic spirit and faith in the American experiment. (M, O)
Lincoln and Reconstruction - This lesson focuses on Lincoln’s role as president during the Civil War. After reading a variety of primary sources written by Lincoln or to him, students analyze under what provisions of the Constitution he acted as president. They then try to imagine what a week in the life of the President might have been like by writing a diary as Lincoln or his secretary. The lesson then focuses on Lincoln’s role in reconstructing the nation, which he initiated in his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction of December 8, 1863. Students role play members of his cabinet as they hear from a variety of constituents about the effect this document is having on the course of the war and the future of the Freedmen. The cabinet considers a variety of amendments to Lincoln’s plan and through debate, either adopts or rejects them. (O)
Conflicting Newspaper Accounts - In this lesson students write Civil War newspapers about the Battle of Antietam from the opposing perspectives of North and South. They begin by analyzing a series of photographs of the battlefield. After writing their newspapers, which encompass many topics about the military, political and economic aspects of the war, students analyze the consequences of the Battle of Antietam. The lesson ends with a set of documents about the Emancipation Proclamation, which Lincoln issued shortly after visiting the battle site. (O)
Civil War Reenactment Headquarters - The online source for Civil War Reenactment Events and Battle Schedules, Sutlers & Sponsors, Civil War Reenactors, and other useful Living History information. (Y, M, O, T)
Civil War Discovery Trail - Links more than 600 sites in 32 states to inspire and to teach the story of the Civil War and its enduring impact on America. (Y, M, O, T)
Poison Spring State Park - In the spring of 1864, three Civil War battles took place in south central Arkansas that were part of the Union Army's "Red River Campaign." Arkansas's three state historic parks that commemorate these battles--Poison Spring, Marks' Mills and Jenkins' Ferry--are part of the Red River Campaign National Historic Landmark. (Y, M, O, T)
National Park Service Civil War Web Site. - The approaching Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War (2011-2015) offers the current generation of Americans a most important opportunity to know, discuss, and commemorate this country's greatest national crisis, while at the same time exploring its enduring relevance in the 21st century. (Y, M, O, T)
New Market Battlefield State Historical Park - Your exploration of the Civil War in Virginia begins here in the legendary Shenandoah Valley. The three-hundred acre New Market Battlefield State Historical Park, 19th Century Bushong Farm, and Hall of Valor Civil War Museum, commemorate a unique moment in American history--- when college boys, Cadets from VMI, engaged in pitched battle and helped win a victory for the Confederate Army. (Y, M, O, T)
Unit Study of the American Civil War - From EasyFunSchool.com (Y,M)
The Underground Railroad - You are a slave. "Your body, your time, your very breath belong to a farmer in 1850s Maryland. Six long days a week you tend his fields and make him rich. You have never tasted freedom. You never expect to. And yet . . . your soul lights up when you hear whispers of attempted escape. Freedom means a hard, dangerous trek. Do you try it?" (Y,M)
Civil War links - One of the largest collections of links for Civil War info (Y, M, O, T)
The Civil War Homepage - Battle maps, letters, research pages, speeches, reenactment info, and more (Y, M, O, T)
Civil War Unit - from Small Planet - The Civil War era is one of the most critical and fascinating in our nation's history. 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. Civil War Unit - from Small Planet (M,O)
Role Playing the Civil War - "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." (M)
Digital History - Children in History - "Young people were involved in all the crucial episodes of American history: They sailed with Columbus; served as go-betweens for English colonists and Indians; toiled as indentured servants; were kidnapped into slavery; fought in the Revolution and the Civil War; labored in coal mines and factories; and stood at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. Many young people recorded their experiences in diaries, personal letters, and memoirs." (Y, M, O, T)
Civil War - Cyber Sleuth Kids - Photos, time lines, and other materials teach about Civil War battles, food, maps, people, and music (Y,M)