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Civil War

Why study any war?  I chose this one because it was horrible.  War is a horrible thing and should be avoided.  This one was, in my opinion, avoidable and more horrendous for that reason.  The goals were in some cases commendable.  Please do not see it simply as a question of slavery.  Things are rarely that simple. Keeping the nation whole and ending slavery were good things.  Was it possible to achieve these goals by other means?  The facts can be found and the clues added up and still the question remains.  You will have your own judgment on this one.  What if we had let the South go?  Could we have reunited?  There were so very many losers in this.  Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is a good place to start for yourself. See the sides, the people; hear their thoughts.  I mourned for a week.  Why any war?  Our children need to hear this story.  They need to think it through and they need to know that there are many reasons for a war.  Can there be a just war,  one that is unavoidable?  What is the criteria for an unavoidable war, or a just war?  Which player would you change to avoid a war? in present wars? in past wars?  There are heroes here.  Find them and rejoice for such people.

See the National Park Service site on the Civil War and follow their links, one of which is a terrific list of links, the Civil War page.  It has timelines and other chronological links, too.  For more timelines and maps see AmericanCivilWar.com.  Some of the maps are broken down by states.

GOAL; Will you focus on a chronological path, issues, characters, geographic area, your family's history, naval arena, technological advances, medical advances... ?  My decision was to be chronological, note battles and visit places, interspersing that with the appropriate diversions into causes, changes, people, inventions, and don't forget the music!   Check every park center to see if they have a children's program. Following their programs can earn you free badges and patches.  Check Virginia Timetravelers before you start taking trips in Virginia.  With a certain number of stamps from places that are in the year's theme you can earn a patch and a certificate.

Begin by reading a general overview of the beginning of the war.  The History of US and the Golden Book of the Civil War were particularly good to follow as texts.  Recognize that the war had different theaters; Eastern Theater, Western Theater, and the Trans-Mississippi Theater.  

*Read about John Brown in 1859.  This event brought many of the key players together on the same side, before there was a national split.  In this fight to free the black slaves, who was the first man killed?  The Harpers Ferry website is superb for getting information, including first hand accounts.  Visit the Kennedy Farm east of Harpers Ferry, reading the plaque there (take insect repellant).  Drive back towards Harpers Ferry, you will probably be using part of the route John Brown took.  Imagine doing this at night.  (If you drive into the lower part of the town you can try parking back near the railroad tracks.  If you can't find parking there, go out of the town, back to the Harpers Ferry Park. Take the park service bus in.)  Visit the John Brown Museum and the other sites, including "John Brown's Fort".   Buy ice cream at one of the cafes and review all you've seen.  (Take pictures! Let your students reenact events and let them decide what to take pictures of!)

*Don't assume all of the terms are clear.  After you've begun and are moving along, stop and do the following.

Define and review terms:
Yankee
Rebel
Union
Confederate
Johnny Reb
Billy Yank
Blue
Gray
1. Put the terms on cards, have a large map on the floor, divided North and South, have small Union and Confederate plastic soldiers or other blue and gray markers, 
2. Call out a term, and a student will toss the appropriate marker to the North or South  
(My map is on an old sheet that we'd put the colonial colonies on and then added the western lands appropriate to the 1860's.  Using pencil we had made a grid and using a grid on another map we'd transferred and enlarged the map onto the sheet.  Then with permanent marker the colony or state lines were copied over.  For the Civil War a Mason-Dixon yarn line was taped on.  The original colonial area was large enough to play a game of Twister on :)  
<If you don't want to make a sheet map, a yarn/string outline of the U.S. on the rug works too.>
3. Draw Union and Confederate flags on small cards and label the states on your map slowly, in the order of secession for the South.

Books Not to Miss:
The Golden Book of the Civil War, 1961; Flate, Charles
History of US; War, Terrible War, book 6, 2003; Hakim, Joy, (Book 5 has the times prior to this one)
Killer Angels, 1976; Shaara, Michael; Pulitzer prize winning novel dealing with the Battle of Gettysburg from which the movie "Gettysburg" was based; grades 8- adult.  I used this for my background.  It taught me a lot.
Civil War Songbook with historical commentary, McNeil, Keith and Rusty, Contents divided into The War Begins, The Realities of War, The Changing War, The Union Forever.  Don't skip the fun of learning history through songs!

More Books:
After the Glory: The Struggles of Black Civil War Veterans, by Donald Shaffer
Civil War Reader list on Gettysburg National Park site, a great compilation

Look and Listen for:
Re-enactments at the National Parks
The Gettysburg Annual Civil War Music Muster

Places to visit:

National Museum of American History in DC, see the Price of Freedom: Americans at War

Harpers Ferry

Manassas National Battlefield

Fredericksburg Battlefield, NPS

Antietam National Battlefield

Gettysburg National Military Park

National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick - They have educator resources, lectures, and lesson plans available.

Petersburg National Battlefield

Pamplin Park, National Museum of the Civil War Soldier  (We used this place as a summation event.  It is a super place, very worth the effort of getting there and finding a place to stay.  We, of course, combined the visit with a tour of the  Petersburg Nat. Battlefield.)