Civil War

Civil War Facts: 1861-1865 NPS The Civil War

• https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/facts.htm Oct 27, 2021 "The Union included the states of Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. Abraham Lincoln was their President. The Confederacy included the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Jefferson Davis was their President. Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri were called Border States. In 1865, the Union won the war." National Park Service

The Civil War National Park Service

• https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/index.htm Jun 1, 2022 "4,000,000 freed. 750,000 dead. 1 nation saved. From 1861 to 1865, the American union was broken as brother fought brother in a Civil War that remains a defining moment in our nation's history. Its causes and consequences, including the continuing struggle for civil rights for all Americans, reverberate to this day. From the battlefields to the homefront, the cost of the war was steep...its lessons eternal." NPS

American Battlefield Trust Learn About Wars in America

• https://www.battlefields.org/learn "The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War created and defined our nation. Through our rich collection of resources, you can learn about why we are the way we are."

American Civil War Britannica School Middle

• https://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/American-Civil-War/273689 Jun 3, 2022 "At 4:30 am on April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery in Charleston, South Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter, which was held by the United States Army. The bombardment set off a savage four-year war between two great geographic sections of the United States. One section was the North—23 Northern and Western states that supported the federal government. The other section was the South—11 Southern states that had seceded (withdrawn) from the Union and formed an independent government called the Confederate States of America. The struggle between these two combatants is generally known as the American Civil War, though it is also referred to as the War Between the States or the War of the Rebellion." TABLE OF CONTENTS: Introduction | The Basic Issue of States’ Rights | The Basic Issue of States’ Rights | The Slavery System in the South | Abolitionists and Their Work | Expansion of Slavery | Efforts to Save the Union | The War Begins at Fort Sumter | Comparison of Rival Forces | The First Year of War | The War in the East, 1862 | From Antietam to Gettysburg | Campaigns in the West, 1862 to 1864 | The Final Phase, 1864–65 | The War at Sea | Foreign Affairs During the War | War on the Home Front | Costs of the War | Military Innovations | Some Major Civil War Battles | Additional Reading | Britannica School

A Brief Overview of the American Civil War A Defining Time in Our Nation's History James McPherson

• https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/brief-overview-american-civil-war Nov 20, 2008 "The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution: whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the largest slaveholding country in the world." American Battlefield Trust

Civil War Era Collection at Gettysburg College

• https://gettysburg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4016coll2 "Special Collections is home to many unique 19th century resources. This digital repository offers a sampling of a broader collection that includes political cartoons, letters, photographs, maps, artifacts, and more relating to the Civil War Era." Collections include Artifacts, Letters, Lithographs, Maps, Newspapers, Paintings, Pamphlets, Photographs, Political Cartoons, and Sheet Music.

Civil War Commemorates the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War

• https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war#/home "The Civil War was America's bloodiest and most divisive conflict, pitting the Union Army against the Confederate States of America. The war resulted in the deaths of more than 620,000 people, with millions more injured and the South left in ruins." HISTORY

Sherman's March to the Sea

• https://www.sutori.com/story/sherman-s-march-to-the-sea--NZ9EcqFuZcnaQZPn62bt15ZS "After capturing and burning Atlanta two months prior on September 2nd, 1864, the Union plan was for you, General William T. Sherman, and your forces to move towards Mobile, Alabama. As the bay of Mobile had already been taken, the town no longer holds any military significance to your eyes, and you come up with an alternative that is to move towards Savannah, Georgia or Charleston, South Carolina."

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" Ambrose Bierce

• https://americanliterature.com/author/ambrose-bierce/short-story/an-occurrence-at-owl-creek-bridge "Set during the American Civil War, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek" is Bierce's most famous short story. It was first published in the San Francisco Examiner in 1890. It then appeared in Bierce's 1891 collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. We encourage students and teacher to use our An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Study Guide https://americanliterature.com/an-occurrence-at-owl-creek-bridge-study-guide to learn more about the story." 

Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life

• https://americanhistory.si.edu/lincoln/introduction "This website is based on an exhibition that was on view at the National Museum of American History from January 16, 2009 to May 29, 2011. His story is as familiar to Americans as any children’s fable. He was born in a log cabin. He became the 16th president. He freed the slaves and saved the Union. He was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre. How did an unschooled, backwoods politician rise to the presidency and guide the nation through its greatest crisis? Who was this individual who helped to define our country’s future through the force of his leadership and intellect?"

Mourning during the Civil War Caroline E. Janney

• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/mourning-during-the-civil-war Dec 14, 2020 "Mourning is the process of grieving the death of a loved one. In the mid-nineteenth century, middle- and upper-class Americans observed an elaborate set of rules that governed behavior following the death of a spouse or relative. The astronomical rate of death during the American Civil War (1861–1865) often hindered the mourning process, transformed the ways in which individuals and communities responded to death, and heightened women‘s public role in mourning traditions." Encyclopedia Virginia Virginia Humanities

Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life National Museum of American History

• https://americanhistory.si.edu/lincoln/introduction Jan 16, 2009 "His story is as familiar to Americans as any children’s fable. He was born in a log cabin. He became the 16th president. He freed the slaves and saved the Union. He was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre. How did an unschooled, backwoods politician rise to the presidency and guide the nation through its greatest crisis? Who was this individual who helped to define our country’s future through the force of his leadership and intellect?" National Museum of American History

The Impending Crisis ACWM Online Exhibits

• https://acwm.org/the-impending-crisis Apr 27, 2024 The American Civil War Museum will launch a major exhibition at ACWM-Tredegar in Richmond, Virginia, on April 27th, 2024. Titled The Impending Crisis, this exhibit will delve into the events, individuals, and topics that led to the division of the United States on the verge of civil war. The Impending Crisis exhibit takes visitors on a journey through differing national viewpoints on faith, politics, and patriotism in the years leading up to the Civil War. While touring the exhibit, visitors meet both well-known and lesser-known people, hearing their words, seeing the families and communities they built, and the extreme hardships they suffered. Visitors gain a better understanding of what was truly at stake during this pivotal time in the nation’s history, and how the actions to engage in a civil war remade America. The American Civil War Museum

Role • Audience • Format • Topic •

• Role: 1861 Yankee or Confederate

• Audience: Family member or close friend

• Format: 1860 Letter

• Topic: Explain the reasons or causes that have led you to remain a Yankee or Confederate after the War Between the States began in 1861. Do friends and family keep you in the United States of America or Confederate States of America? Do political issues sever your Union ties? Is the Union or Confederate cause just or unjust?

Learning Target

The American Civil War Museum

• https://acwm.org provides numerous resources and includes these popular lessons: SOLDIERS, AFRICAN AMERICANS, BATTLES, WOMEN, HOMEFRONT, EMANCIPATION, LEADERS and SLAVERY.

BIRTH OF MONUMENT AVENUE

• https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/in-service-and-servitude/nQISf_5t-uXhIg "The origins of Richmond’s most contested and beloved boulevard. This exhibit is a partnership between the American Civil War Museum, the Library of Virginia, The Valentine , and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture." The American Civil War Museum

CONTESTED FRANCHISE: THE 15TH AMENDMENT AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN AMERICA

• https://contestedfranchise.com "An exploration of voting rights in the Civil War era and how the 15th Amendment changed everything, but did little." The American Civil War Museum

EMBATTLED EMBLEM

• https://embattledemblem.com "A short history of how the Confederate battle flag acquired its many meanings: pride of the Confederate fighting man and symbol of his memory, emblem of white supremacy and racial terror, an icon of regional identity, and a vessel for culture war politics today." The American Civil War Museum

IN SERVICE AND SERVITUDE

• https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/in-service-and-servitude/nQISf_5t-uXhIg "Learn about the individual lives and stories of the domestic staff at the Confederate President’s House."

THE LIFE OF MONUMENT AVENUE

• https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-life-of-monument-avenue/7QISDq2RzUeiLA "As a mirror in which Richmond views itself, and by which it has encouraged outsiders to view it, Monument Avenue has reflected a variety of meanings and evolving values in a changing city." The American Civil War Museum

Civil War Topics In 4 Minutes 77 videos

• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhqv_T1O1vGjphtbnTVXpNpiFKUpVy8 Apr 21, 2021 A series of short, four-minute informational videos on basic Civil War topics such as battlefields, preservation, leadership, illnesses and amputations, veterans, troops, women in the Civil War, and more. American Battlefield Trust

Sound Smart: Fort Sumter and the Civil War | History 2:23

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3IwgtrMKKM Nov 14, 2016 Historian Matthew Pinsker presents a quick rundown of the battles at South Carolina's Fort Sumter and the start of the U.S. Civil War. HISTORY

The Truth About The Deadliest Day Of The Civil War 10:08

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejF4Tvlx4V0 Apr 30, 2021 The Civil War was a conflict filled with bloody battles, but one clash in particular echoed through time and is now remembered as the deadliest day in the Civil War: the Battle of Antietam. While the Union declared the battle a victory for their side, it was certainly a hollow one, with staggering casualties on both sides -- and a missed opportunity to end the war once and for all. The date was September 17, 1862, and the Civil War had already been tearing the country apart for more than a year. As the tide of bloodshed approached Sharpsburg, Maryland, morale in both armies was at an abysmal low. Someone needed a decisive victory. What both sides got was anything but. Here's the untold truth of the Battle of Antietam.

• A high casualty count 0:00 | An unimportant battle 1:22 | Close-range combat 2:28 | A hailstorm of bullets 3:02  | The scene at the hospitals 3:57 | Soldiers with families 4:53 | An unnecessary battle 5:47 | Photos of the battle 6:54 | Changing the tide of the war 7:30 | It drove Europe out of the war 8:35 Grunge Read Full Article: https://www.grunge.com/377161/the-truth-about-the-deadliest-day-of-the-civil-war

Civil War 1864: A Virtual Reality Experience, On Patrol 5:26

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt3Y5FhxwKE Oct 25, 2019 The opposing forces crave information on one another and both sides send troops from the relative safety of their trenches out between the lines to gain information, capture prisoners or exact revenge. The men from the previous trench scenes leave their tranches on the dangerous assignment. One kicks over his coffee pot in anger. The men meet in the nearby woods with deadly consequences. A young Confederate is captured and taken back toward union lines amidst screaming artillery rounds. American Battlefield Trust

Confederate Flags Explained - American Artifacts 3:35

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG2nkqfKS5I Sep 24, 2015 Clip from an American Artifacts visit to the Museum of the Confederacy: https://www.c-span.org/video/?306787-5/white-house-confederacy C-SPAN

The Complicated History Of The Confederate Flag | Time Capsule 9:42

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1VnD-PRVh8 Jan 22, 2016 The confederate flag is a controversial symbol. What it means has changed over time and can depend on who you are and where you come from. And to further complicate this, there wasn't just one confederate flag--there were dozens--and the flag we've come to know as the confederate flag has a history as complicated as it is contentious. The Good Stuff Learn more about the Civil War at PBS Learning Media https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/teaching-the-civil-war

Debunking the myth of the Lost Cause: A lie embedded in American history - Karen L. Cox 4:42

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP0_wnaW-a0 Feb 25, 2021 Examine the myth of the Lost Cause: a campaign created by pro-Confederates after the Civil War to promote the lie that they seceded for state's rights. In the 1860’s, 11 southern states withdrew from the United States and formed the Confederacy. They seceded in response to the growing movement for the nationwide abolition of slavery. Yet barely a year after the Civil War ended, southern sources began claiming the conflict was about state’s rights. How did this revisionist history come about? Karen L. Cox examines the cultural myth of the Lost Cause. TEDEd View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/debunking-the-myth-of-the-lost-cause-a-lie-embedded-in-american-history-karen-l-cox

The breathtaking courage of Harriet Tubman - Janell Hobson 4:48

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv7YhVKFqbQ Jul 24, 2018 Take a closer look at the life of escaped slave and American icon Harriet Tubman, who liberated over 700 enslaved people using the Underground Railroad. TEDEd View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-courage-of-harriet-tubman-janell-hobson

History in Five: Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation 6:29

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt65UV6Fspc Sep 9, 2014 Learn more about The Lincoln's Gamble at https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Lincolns-Gamble/Todd-Brewster/9781451693898 Todd Brewster, author of Lincoln’s Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months That Gave America The Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War, tells us five things about the complicated 180 days leading up to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Simon & Schuster Books

The End of the Civil War 4:46

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViuUanTUy10 Apr 17, 2020 Following his victory against George McClellan in the 1864 presidential election, Abraham Lincoln once again found himself leading a divided country. However, the division this time was not only between North and South, but also whether the Union should treat the rebel states with leniency or with vengeance upon the conclusion of the conflict. Learn how the panel inside the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument portrays this disagreement and how the magnanimous nature of Abraham Lincoln shaped not only the end of the war, but also the course of history. Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/132/presidential-addresses-and-messages/5161/the-second-inaugural-address-of-president-abraham-lincoln-washington-dc-march-4-1865

Grant: Official Trailer | 3-Night Miniseries Event Premieres Memorial Day, May 25 at 9/8c 2:07

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhzBYakZZW0&t Apr 22, 2020 HISTORY’s three-night miniseries event, “Grant,” will premiere over three consecutive nights beginning on Monday, May 25 at 9PM ET/PT on HISTORY. The television event will chronicle the life of one of the most complex and underappreciated generals and presidents in U.S. history – Ulysses S. Grant. “Grant,” tells the remarkable and quintessentially American story of a humble man who overcomes incredible obstacles, rises to the highest ranks of power and saves the nation not once, but twice. With a seamless blend of dramatic scenes, expert commentary and beautifully enhanced archival imagery, this series uncovers the true legacy of the unlikely hero who led the nation during its greatest test: The Civil War and Reconstruction – the herculean task to reconcile the North and the South. One of the most courageous and unexpected initiatives of Grant’s presidency was protecting the right to vote for the four million freed slaves in the face of violent and widespread resistance. HISTORY

General Lee's Personal Connection to Arlington Cemetery 2:33

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm-YkVo9a3w May 20, 2013 At the end of the Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers were buried in Arlington. This laid the groundwork for a truly national cemetery. Smithsonian Channel

Yes, there are Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and the other obvious heroes of the Civil War. But there are also many names you may never have heard of. From famous politicians to everyday citizens, people from all walks of life played important, sometimes revolutionary, roles during the war. Find out more about who some of these people were and how they changed history. National Park Service

Soldiers and Sailors Database

• Check our database of over 6 million soldiers, as well as information on regiments, battles, and more. https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm

Politicians

• The Civil War culminated 80 years of sectional tensions and ideologies of freedom and government authority were debated...https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/politicians.htm

Military

• Learn about the men who developed strategy and led the troops of the Union and Confederacy into battle. https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/military.htm

Activists

• From women’s rights, to abolition, to states’ rights, and the ideology of freedom, the Civil War era was a time of social...https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/activists.htm

Spies

• A war that pitted neighbors who shared a common language and heritage against each other created many opportunities... https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/spies.htm

Religious Figures

• Religious figures’ opinions on freedom and society rallied congregations and acted as prominent examples for their causes. https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/religious-figures.htm

Civilians

• The Civil War and its effects touched the lives of virtually every man, woman and child in both the North and South. https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/civilians.htm