A soldier from Wildcat Regiment

An interesting way for students to experience the Civil War is to personalize it for them. One way to personalize the Civil War is to allow students to experience the war through the eyes (or in this case letters and documents) of a solider. The Library of Congress has created A Solider from the Wildcat Regiment that details the life of a Union solider in the 105th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. This digital resource center contains documents, photographs and letters related to Capt. Tilton Reynolds combined with ideas and suggestions on how you can incorporate the information into your classroom.

The following is from the Library of Congress Website:

A Civil War Soldier in the Wild Cat Regiment … a Collection Connection from the Learning Page

Help your students make personal connections with history by considering the lives of a young Union soldier and his family during the Civil War. Through letters and other documents, the collection describes the drudgery of life in military camps, details of troop movements, experiences of a prisoner of war, a soldier's view of politics, and feelings of homesickness and familial love.


Until next time...

Which Civil War General Are You?

Hmmm... Could be worse. You scored as General Ambrose Burnside, The good news is, you're considered a person of scrupulous honor and well liked by no less a personage than Abe Lincoln. The bad news is you're pretty much inept, the worst high-ranking general of the war. Cheer up, though; you might have a future in politics. General Ambrose Burnside 90% General James Longstreet 75% General George McClellan 70% William T. Sherman 70% Robert E. Lee 65% Stonewall Jackson 60% General Nathan Bedford Forrest 45% U.S. Grant 45% General Jeb Stuart 40% General Phillip Sheridan 35% Which American Civil War General are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Podcast from Ford's Theater

Eric Langhorst is an 8th grade American History teacher in Liberty, Missouri and runs the Speaking of History podcast and blog. Eric has some great resources on his website for using Web 2.0 technologies into the teaching of History.

In February, Eric recorded the presentation of a National Park Service Ranger at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC and provided it as a podcast for you to download. What a great way for you to have your students listen to this lecture and reflect on the event that occurred there in April, 185.

In addition to that Mike Lynaugh's photography website has some great modern day photographs not only of Ford's Theater, but also of the entire John Wilkes Booth Escape Route.

Use the photographs, the NPS site and podcast in combination to allow your students to experience the events of April 14, 1865.

Until next time...

Gettysburg Cyclorama

The Gettysburg Cyclorama, officially known as the "Battle of Gettysburg" Cyclorama, is a 360 degree circular painting that depicts Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863. According to the Gettysburg National Military Park, it's one of the last remaining cycloramas in the United States.

The Gettysburg Cyclorama was created by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux. Starting in 1882, Philippoteaux spent several weeks sketching the battlefield in order to accurately depict the climatic charge. Philippoteaux also had the opportunity to interview several veterans of the battle in order to obtain their thoughts on how the battle transpired.

Over the next 18 months, Philippoteaux and his assistants created the massive work and finally the "Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg" opened in Chicago in 1883. He then went on to paint a second version to be shown in Boston in 1884 again to tremendous acclaim. This Boston version of the painting would eventually come to reside in Gettysburg in 1913. The National Park Service in Gettysburg purchased the painting and placed it in the visitor in 1962. The Gettysburg Cyclorama is 359 feet long, 27 feet high and weighs an estimated 3 tons.

Currently the Gettysburg Cyclorama is undergoing restoration and will be moved to the new visitor center in 2008.

Thanks to the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation, you can download hi-res TIFF images of the painting and restoration project. These hi-res images allow you to zoom in and see parts of the painting in great detail, including some of the damage and the on-going restoration.

Ideas for the classroom:
Have your students think about if they were Philippoteaux in Gettysburg in 1882, what types of questions would you ask, what would you be sketching, what would you be looking for?

What would be some of issues related to creating a painting of this size?

Have your students view a portion of the painting and have them sketch a section.

These are just a couple of ideas. What ideas do you have for integrating this into your classroom?

Until next time...
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References:
Heiser, J. (2005, Dec). The gettysburg cyclorama. Retrieved July 17, 2007, from Gettysburg National Military Park Web site: http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/gettcyclo.htm

More Videos on the Internet

Today, I am sharing some links to some additional videos available via the Internet.

Antietam - Civil War Artillery Demonstration (1:31)
• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8644295898597328453&pr=goog-sl
Civil War (2 Parts – 1:27 & 1:26)
• http://oechw.xmu.edu.cn/hanyu/avi/eng/encyclo/Civwar1.rm
• http://oechw.xmu.edu.cn/hanyu/avi/eng/encyclo/Civwar2.rm
Civil War and St. Augustine (2:53)
• http://real.morriscomm.com:8080/ramgen/staugustine/video/visit/territory56k.rm
Civil War Battle Reenactment, Spokane, WA (4:15)
•http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=9f54b9fbaea3edff92523da5476cc7e9.681072&fr=yvmtf
Civil War Content Videos (9 videos of various lengths )
• http://eportal.guhsd.net/jmdb10/US%20History%20Quarter%201-3/?D=A
Civil War Movie Resources (24 videos of various lengths)
• http://www.webster.k12.mo.us/~fagin_kristin/civilwarresources.htm
Civil War Reenactment (3 Parts)
• http://clips1.vimeo.com/video_files/2005/11/21/vimeo.29380.mov
• http://ia300202.us.archive.org/0/items/BoycottSocietyCivilWarReEnactmentPt2/18civilWar_02om.mov
• http://ia300240.us.archive.org/0/items/BoycottSocietyCivilWarReenactment/18civilWar_03om.mov
Civil War Reenactment (3 videos of various lengths)
• http://www.interruptproductions.com/history.html
Civil War Reenactment (37 videos of various lengths)
• http://www.wrightwood.com/civil_war.htm
Divided and Torn (12:15)
• http://castor.state.mo.us:8080/ramgen/dese/findmo_unit11.rm
Family Stories of the Civil War (15 videos of various lengths)
• http://www.gpb.org/programs/civilwar/familystories.htm
Georgia's Civil War (4 videos of various lengths)
• http://www.gpb.org/programs/civilwar/index.htm
Ghost Writers from the Civil War (Story and Video)
• http://www.wusa9.com/rss/vodcasting_article.aspx?ref=Vodcast&storyid=53964
• http://www.wusa9.com/video/player.aspx?aid=37948&bw
Historical New York Times Project: The News in the Civil War Years (14:08)
• http://www.nyt.ulib.org/index.cgi
Medical History of the Civil War (1:02:08)
• http://www.utmem.edu/telemedicine/viewmovie.php?moviename=gr110503surgery.rm
PBS: The Civil War (5 videos of various lengths)
• http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/film/video.html
Shiloh Reenactment (14:08)
• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7235204575581970735&sourceid=popularfeed
The Civil War (14:37)
• http://www.archive.org/details/CivilWar1954
The Civil War at Home (10 videos of various lengths)
• http://www.wisconsinstories.org/2001season/civilwar/civilwar_video.html
The Civil War Experience: Gettysburg (2:02)
• http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol3/civilwar/gettysburg-vid-t1.ram
The Civil War Experience: Baseball (1:14)
• http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol3/civilwar/cw-baseball-vid-t1.ram
The "First" Shots of the Civil War? (2:45)
• http://www.pensacolahistory.org/videofiles/ra_metafiles/civil-war.ram
United Streaming Videos: Civil War (5 videos of various lengths)
• http://www.fayar.net/vandergriff/5th_video.html

Great Source for modern Gettysburg Battlefield Photographs

Mike Lynaugh is a professional photographer who has created a collection of photographs of Civil War battlefields and reenactments know as Virtual Civil War.

One of my favorite collections is his Gettysburg Gallery that contains some incredible photographs of the battlefield as it looks today. What a great way for you to tour the battlefield with your students. Or art teachers can use the photographs to discuss some of the techniques the Mike uses to create these terrific photographs.

In addition to the modern battlefield photographs, Mike includes a great selection of original photographs from the Civil War. Lots of photos here of dead soldiers, the devastation of war, several battlefields (including Gettysburg) and several famous individuals like John Burns.

Here are two of my favorites from Mike's Gettysburg Gallery.


This is a close up of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (PVI) monument on Oak Ridge. This is Sallie Ann Jarrett, the mascot of the the 11th PVI who was present at Gettysburg and got left behind when the 11th fell back through the town. Sallie stayed on the field, behind enemy lives with the dead and wounded of the 11th. More on her for another post.

My other favorite is this one of an extreme close up of the Virginia Monument showing the details that go into creating such a magnificient monument.
Be sure to check out Mike's other galleries such as Antietam, Harper's Ferry and Manassas.


PS: I also have a special photo of the 11th PVI monument as my desktop wallpaper. ;)

Great Source for modern Gettysburg Photographs

Mike Lynaugh is a professional photographer who has created a collection of photographs of Civil War battlefields and reenactments know as Virtual Civil War.

One of my favorite collections is his Gettysburg Gallery that contains some incredible photographs of the battlefield as it looks today. What a great way for you to tour the battlefield with your students. Or art teachers can use the photographs to discuss some of the techniques the Mike uses to create these terrific photographs.

Here are two of my favorites:

This is a close up of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (PVI) monument on Oak Ridge. This is Sallie Ann Jarrett, the mascot of the the 11th PVI who was present at Gettysburg and got left behind when the 11th fell back through the town. Sallie stayed on the field, behind enemy lives with the dead and wounded of the 11th. More on her for another post.

My other favorite is this one of an extreme close up of the Virginia Monument showing the details that go into creating such a magnificient monument.
Be sure to check out Mike's other galleries such as Antietam, Harper's Ferry and Manassas.


PS: I also have a special photo of the 11th PVI monument as my desktop wallpaper. ;)

Choices & Commitments: Soldiers @ Gettysburg

The National Park Service has created a series of lesson plans known as Teaching with Historic Places and one of those historic places is Gettysburg. Choices and Commitments: The Soldiers at Gettysburg is one such lesson plan.

This lesson plan starts with an inquiry question that asks the students to examine a photo of the Trostle Farm littered with dead horses and debris.

The Trostle Farm circa July 6, 1863 -- Alexander Gardner photo

The lesson then presents the events leading up to the battle and has the students locate information on a few maps. The lesson presents some great readings on events that occurred with accompanying discussion discussion questions for the students to consider. The lesson contains three activities for the teacher to use with their students, each with a different perspective on the battle.

Finally, the Supplementary Resources of the lesson provides links to some excellent digital resource centers such as the Valley of the Shadow Project.

Gettysburg's "Hallowed Ground"

During the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, noted Civil War historian James McPherson gave some tours of the battlefield. Part of one of these tours is available as an audio file from the NPR website along with an accompanying article and two photo galleries.

This is a good opportunity for teachers to bring a subject matter expert into your classroom to see how they "do history". Using the accompanying photo galleries and primary sources from digital resource centers like the Library of Congress, students can listen to the 15 minute audio commentary and view the location using photos, maps and other images.

Enjoy.

July 1, 1863

The Gettysburg Discussion Group (GDG) has some great articles on the opening day of the Battle of Gettysburg. I'm particularly fond of the discussion on the area known as Oak Ridge because the 11th PVI and Sallie their mascot fought there before retreating through town to the safety of Cemetery Hill.

Check out the GDG discussion on day one at : http://www.gdg.org/Research/Authored%20Items/july1.html

US Army Website on the the Battle of Gettysburg

The U.S. Army has created an excellent website related to the Battle of Gettysburg.

When you click the Launch Battle button it takes you to a multimedia presentation of the events leading up the to battle. In addition to the spoken narrative, there are also numerous pictures of the famous Civil War era individuals, maps, and other primary sources. The introduction then leads into a timeline for each of the days of the battle mixing an multimedia map with text and photographs.

At the bottom portion of the screen, you have the option to select different specific information related to the battle. They are Profiles, Weaponry, Statistics, Epilogue, and Resources and each contains a wealth of information.

For example, if you click on Profiles, it provides you with an Overview and then you can click on any of the photos of the individuals at the bottom of the page such as John Burns, Jenny Wade or Confederate Private Wesley Culp who died on his family's farm on Culp's Hill. After reading the stories, have your students imagine that they lived in Gettysburg when the Confederates arrived or produce a newspaper article about the invasion.

The Statistics section can easily be integrated into a math lesson to compare and contrast the number of soldiers killed and wounded from different wars. While the Epilogue section contains some great information about the aftermath of the battle.