This will give you a timeline of the Civil War. You can then proceed to click on a month or year of the war and be taken to a page with information about that particular month.
The following is from The Lincoln Log website and gives you an idea of what Lincoln's day was like on November 19, 1863 prior to giving his famous speech.
If you plan to have your students recite the Gettysburg Address for class, this should help provide some background information about the event.
If the technology had been available, Lincoln probably would have used something like PowerPoint during his speech. Here is a link to what the PowerPoint presentation may have looked like for the the Gettysburg Address.
Here is a nice YouTube video of Jim Getty portraying President Lincoln 11/19/2006.
Thursday, November 19, 1863. Gettysburg, PA and Washington, DC.
According to Nicolay's account, after breakfast at Wills house, Lincoln retires to his room, where Nicolay joins him, and completes preparation of his speech. John G. Nicolay, "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address," The Century Magazine 25:598.
About 10 A.M. President, dressed in black, wearing white gauntlets and usual crepe around hat in memory of Willie, leaves Wills house to join procession. Receives round after round of "three hearty cheers," and shakes many hands as crowd gathers. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.
Thousands welcome President in Gettysburg. Weather fine. Flags in Washington at half-mast in honor of dead in cemetery at Gettysburg. Washington Star, 19 November 1863.
Gov. Curtin (Pa.), who arrived last evening with numerous important people on special train from Harrisburg, Pa., remarks to Lincoln about serenade given Gov. Seymour (N.Y.), and Lincoln replies: "He deserves it. No man has shown greater interest and promptness in his cooperation with us." Rice, 514.
President mounts "a magnificent chestnut charger." Monaghan, Diplomat, 341.
Rides in procession to cemetery. Hay, Letters and Diary.
Procession delayed; starts to move about 11 A.M. LL, No. 1425.
Head of procession arrives at speaker's platform inside cemetery at 11:15 A.M. President receives military salute. President and members of cabinet,with group of military and civic dignitaries, occupy platform. "The President was received with marked respect and a perfect silence due to the solemnity of the occasion, every man among the immense gathering uncovering at his appearance." Washington Chronicle, 20 November 1863.
Lincoln shakes hands with Gov. Tod (Ohio), who introduces Gov.-elect John Brough (Ohio), and takes his place between chairs reserved for Sec. Seward and Edward Everett, orator to make principal address. At 11:40 A.M. Everett arrives, is introduced to President, and program music begins. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.
Once during Everett's two-hour oration Lincoln stirs in his chair. "He took out his steel-bowed spectacles, put them on his nose, took two pages of manuscript from his pocket, looked them over and put them back." Monaghan, Diplomat, 341.
About 2 P.M. Lincoln "in a fine, free way, with more grace than is his wont" delivers Gettysburg Address. He holds manuscript but does not appear to read from it. John G. Nicolay, "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address," The Century Magazine 25:602; Dennett, Hay Diaries and Letters, 121; Address
Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg, 19 November 1863, CW, 7:22-23.
Pronounces his "r" plainly, does not speak like Southerner. Henry B. Rankin, Intimate Character Sketches of Abraham Lincoln (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1924), 285.
On platform, after speech, President remarks to Marshal Lamon: "Lamon, that speech won't scour! It is a flat failure and the people are disappointed." Lamon, Recollections, 173.
John R. Young, recording speech in shorthand for Philadelphia "Press," leans across aisle and asks President if that is all. Lincoln replies, "Yes, for the present." John R. Young, Men and Memories: Personal Reminiscences, 2 vols., edited by May D. Russell Young (New York: F. T. Neely, 1901), 1:69.
President decides to hear address by Lt. Gov.-elect Charles Anderson (Pa.) at 4:30 P.M. in Presbyterian Church. Meets "old John Burns, the soldier of 1812, and the only man in Gettysburg who volunteered to defend it." Burns accompanies him and Sec. Seward to hear Anderson speak. President's special train leaves Gettysburg about 7 P.M. and arrives in Washington at 1:10 A.M. on Friday. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.
Lincoln returns from Gettysburg with a mild form of smallpox (varioloid) and remains under half quarantine in White House for nearly three weeks. Bates, Diary, 30 November 1863; Welles, Diary, Dec.
While in Boston this morning I opened my complimentary copy of USA Today to find a headline article about a new image of Abe Lincoln at Gettysburg being found at the Library of Congress.
The story discusses how an amateur historian was looking at photographs of the famous Gettysburg Address and found Lincoln in his famous top hat riding a horse to the speaker's stand.
Here is a close up of the photo from the article showing what appears to be Lincoln
Photo from USA Today.
I have posted before about using photographs in your classroom. The historian in the article had researched the events around the Gettysburg Address and was simply looking at photographs and made a terrific discovery. You and your students can do the same thing in your classroom. Who knows, you may be the one to find the next photo of Lincoln or other famous Civil War figure.
Researchers advocate instructional approaches that engage students in the processes of doing history (Friedman, 2005). This process includes building historical knowledge through the use of primary sources, conducting historical inquiry, and encouraging students to think historically. As part of this process, students must be active learners, by seeking answers rather than waiting for them when engaging in the analysis of primary sources. The reason for this is that the process of engaging in historical thinking is more than simply absorbing information; instead it requires seeking out answers to questions (Friedman, 2005). While viewing a primary source, students will examine the historical document and then construct a narrative based on that document. Through the process of constructing this narrative, students have begun to develop inquiry skills that they will be able to use throughout their life (Wineburg, 2001). According to VanSledright (2002), children as young as seven and eight years old are capable of thinking historically.
Friedman, A. (2005, May). Using digital primary sources to teach world history and world geography: Practices, promises, and provisions. Journal for the Association of History and Computing, 8, Retrieved October 2005, from http://mcel.pacificu.edu/jahc/JAHCVIII1/articles/friedman.htm#037
VanSledright, B. (2002). In search of America's past. New York, NY: Teacher's College Press
Wineburg, S. (2001). Historical thinking and other unnatural acts. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Rangers at the numerous Civil War battlefields are a wealth of information. Unfortunately, it is difficult (if not impossible) and expensive for classes of students to venture out to a Civil War battlefield. So, how about bringing a Park Ranger to your classroom? Well, here is one way to do just that.
Many of you know that I enjoy reading the My Year of Living Rangerously by Antietam Park Ranger Mannie. He has posted several great videos on Civil War artillery. In addition to that, you can actually listen to Ranger Mannie giving a talk on Civil War artillery for some visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park.
Finally, Ranger Mannie has also recently posted some excellent photographs of the firing of a Civil War canon entitled Muzzle Blast Revealed. In this post Ranger Mannie shows and discusses some additional aspects of artillery such as the fuse and how it fits into the projectile.
What is also interesting about this post is that it shows some photos of cannons being fired from directly in front of the cannon!
During the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate soldiers marched shoulder to shoulder across an open field toward cannons just like the ones shown on Ranger Mannie's website in what would become known as Pickett's Charge. Have your students consider that situation for a moment and perhaps have them write a letter home as a Confederate soldier having survived the charge and faced the cannon.
