Lesson Plan The Gettysburg Address Literature, Religion and Philosophy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this four-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source A proclamation on the suspension of habeas corpus, 1862 The doctrine of habeas corpus is the right of any person under arrest to appear in person before the court, to ensure that they have not been falsely accused. The US Constitution specifically protects this right in Article I, Section...
Spotlight on: Primary Source "Men of Color, To Arms! To Arms," 1863 After the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted on January 1, 1863, black leaders including Frederick Douglass swiftly moved to recruit African Americans as soldiers. "A war undertaken and brazenly carried on for the perpetual...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Civil War and early submarine warfare, 1863 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Civil War combat foreshadowed modern warfare with the introduction of the machine gun, repeater rifles, and trench warfare, and the use of trains to quickly move troops. However, one of the most celebrated tactical innovations of the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Sergeant Francis Fletcher of the 54th Massachusetts on equal pay for Black soldiers, 1864 Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Francis H. Fletcher, a 22-year-old clerk from Salem, Massachusetts, enlisted as a private in Company A of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on February 13, 1863. One year after the regiment left Boston with great fanfare,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source African American soldiers at the Battle of Fort Wagner, 1863 On July 18, 1863, on Morris Island near Charleston, South Carolina, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a Union regiment of free African American men, began their assault on Fort Wagner, a Confederate stronghold. After the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source General Sherman on the "March to the Sea," 1865 In the fall of 1864, Gen. James H. Wilson took command of Gen. William T. Sherman’s cavalry. Sherman and Wilson met and discussed various operations in Sherman’s “March to the Sea” from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. Wilson’s...
Spotlight on: Primary Source A former Confederate officer on slavery and the Civil War, 1907 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ How can a soldier be proud of the country he defends while at the same time opposed to the cause he is fighting for? John S. Mosby, the renowned Confederate partisan leader, dealt with this moral dilemma years after the Civil War...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The surrender of Robert E. Lee, 1865 Left with no route of escape after the fall of Petersburg, Virginia, on April 2, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee was faced with a difficult choice: keep fighting in an increasingly hopeless war or surrender to Ulysses S. Grant...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Confederate reaction to "Beast" Butler's orders, 1862 In April 1862 Union forces led by Captain David G. Farragut steamed past the weak Confederate defenses and captured New Orleans. During the occupation of the city Union troops were repeatedly insulted by New Orleans women and one...