Ever wonder how newspapers during Civil War covered the battles? Are your doing any research into an aspect of the Civil War and need a great primary source?Well, the Son of the South website has digitized versions of Harper's Weekly online for your review. According to the website, they have "over 7,000 pages of original Civil War content, and is full of incredible photographs, original illustrations, and eye-witness accounts of the defining moments of this Historic Struggle."They have even organized the information based on each year of the war, different battles, generals, slavery, medicine and the Lincoln Assassination.How can you use this collection in your classroom?
Have students use this as research for a paper or report
Have students create their own newspaper with accounts of a battle
Have students read the July 18, 1863 and the "First Report from Gettysburg" and ask why did it take 17 days to get information out in the paper?
Have students review and reflect on the ads in the papers
Have students review and reflect on the cartoons in the paper and what impact they may have had on attitudes toward the War.
Check out the sketch of the Maryland Battery at Antietam, then have students research where the Maryland Battery was located at on the Antietam Battlefield. You may even want to contact an Antietam park Ranger or two? (talk about Subject Matter Experts!)
Let me know your thoughts on how you can use this great resource.Until next time...happy reading!
Thanks to the Ten Roads Blog (actually done by a high school student) for sharing a link to a very cool website (more of a mashup really) that uses Google Maps and photos.
The Encounter at Gettysburg page is being developed by Chuck Kann and incorporates Google Maps to allow visitors to locate monuments, farm houses and other significant portions of the Gettysburg battlefield. To navigate the site, you click on the your search criteria on the left side of the page. You can select monuments and landmarks by type, by state or by location on the battlefield. Once you have selected your desired monument or location, you simply click Get Map and then depending on your selection, you could then choose from additional monuments or locations.
For example, I clicked on PA in the Monuments associated with State box then clicked Get Map. From the new list, I selected the 11th PA monument. The Google Map image tells me where the monument is located (I can even view it as a satellite image), I have a photo of the monument and then information that is written on the monument.
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.
According to John Busey's "These Honored Dead: The Union Casualties at Gettysburg", the following is a list of the number of soldiers killed during the Battle of Gettysburg.
Army Of the Potomac :
New York
978
Pennsylvania
745
Massachusetts
200
Michigan
200
US Regulars
182
Ohio
139
Maine
119
Wisconsin
105
Indiana
96
New Jersey
80
New Hampshire
67
Vermont
58
Minnesota
50
Connecticut
45
Maryland
29
Delaware
21
Rhode Island
14
West Virginia
11
Illinois
9
Total
3,148
Army of Northern Virginia:
North Carolina
1452
Virginia
1012
Georgia
774
Mississippi
393
South Carolina
295
Alabama
254
Louisiana
141
Texas
111
Florida
80
Maryland
65
Tennessee
55
Arkansas
41
Total
4,673
Total number killed: 7,821
Based on these figures, you can easily have your students working on some math concepts. Have your students answer questions such as:
What is the average number of soldiers killed for both the North and the South?
What percentage of the total number of soldiers killed were from Ohio?
What percentage of those killed were from the South?
How many more soldiers were killed from North Carolina versus Pennsylvania?
Or, how about some critical thinking skills...
Why do you think New York and North Carolina had the highest number of soldiers killed?
During what day of the battle do you think Minnesota lost the greatest number of soldiers and why?
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... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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
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. ;)
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) will be showing it's annual coverage of ranger led battlefield walks on July 1, 2 3. These shows can also be watched live using the PCN Online Link from their website.
So the other day at lunch time, it had warmed up enough to take a walk outside and I found myself heading for the state museum. I walked up to the area for the Civil War and found it under renovation, however they did have some paintings there and I began to think how this could be used in schools.
The paintings I was looking at were done by Peter Rothermel. The largest is called The Battle of Gettysburg is 16 3/4 feet high and 32 feet long. It's HUGE!. According to a sign near the painting it was unveiled on December 20, 1870 and it depicts the event popularly known as Pickett's Charge. There are numerous historical figures located within the painting such as Union General G. Gordon Meade.
Here are some photos I recently took of the painting and display at the state museum here in Harrisburg.
The previous three photos show the drum that served as a model for the one focused on in the painting, a photograph of Rothermel and invitations to the unveiling of the painting.
This is a close up of the center of the painting that is focused on the soldier wielding his musket like a club.
Note the drum in the bottom center of this picture. It is the same as the one in the display case.
Three more close up photographs
This is the sign leading into the exhibit.
Next time we'll look at other artists and paintings and talk more about how you can have students create their own art.
“The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” This simple sentence was spoken on November 19, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln when he gave the now famous Gettysburg Address and it reminds us of how important it is that we take every opportunity to teach our students about the American Civil War. So, as we approach the 143rd anniversary marking the day of this famous speech, let’s see how we can use technology to learn more about these famous words. There are five known copies of the Gettysburg Address. There is the Nicolay and Hay versions currently held at the Library of Congress, the Edward Everett copy located at the Illinois State Historical Library, the Bancroft version is housed at Cornell University and finally the Bliss copy is on display in the Lincoln Room of the White House (Library of Congress, 2005).
Lincoln was invited to provide “a few appropriate remarks” at the dedication of the new Soldier’s National Cemetery by Gettysburg attorney David Wills (Wills, 1992). In all, some 3,500 Union soldiers would be transferred from shallow graves on the battlefield to this new cemetery by Samuel Weaver (Heiser, 2001). You can read Mr. Wills invitation to President Lincoln on the Library of Congress website.
But President Lincoln was not the featured speaker of the ceremony. That honor belonged to Edward Everett one of the best known orators of the time. Mr. Everett spoke for over two hours and you can read his speech online thanks to the Douglas Archives of American Public Address.
The following photographs were taken during the dedication ceremony and perhaps during the actual time of Lincoln’s speech (Frassanito, 1975). The detailed of the photograph was researched by Josephine Cobb and shows the President among the many people on the platform (Frassanito, 1975).
You can listen to an eyewitness account of the speech by William V. Rathvon. Mr Rathvon was nine years old as he watched President Lincoln’s speech. This recording was found by Quest for Sound curator Jay Allison is is located at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1045619
And what would be any discussion about the Gettysburg Address without actually hearing those famous words. There are several MP3 files available of the Address being read by famous individuals, but my personal favorite is the one done by Jeff Daniels who played Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the movies Gettysburg and Gods and Generals.
The Gettysburg Address November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate;we can not consecrate;we can not hallow;this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
References:
Heiser, J (2001, May). Soldier's national cemetary at gettysburg. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from Gettysburg National Military Park Web http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/gncem.htm
Frassanito, W. J. (1975). Gettysburg: A journey in time. New York: Macmillan.
Library of Congress, (2005). The Gettysburg Address. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from Library of Congress Web site: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/Wills, G (1992). Lincoln at gettysburg: The words that remade america. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Photo Credits:
Lincoln’s Speech, “The Gettysburg Address.” The Library of Congress. November 13, 2006 http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/gaphot.html>
As many of you know, the Library of Congress has a website called Selected Civil War Photographs. This page makes browsing the photographs easy because they have a Search feature, a Subject browse, or you can look at photos from each year of the War. There is also information about Understand and Working with the Collection.
The photograph (Figure 1) shows a very famous picture by Alexander Gardner of a dead Confederate solider in Devil's Den shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg. According to research by William Frassanito (1975), Gardner actually moved this dead soldier some 50 yards up a hill in order to capture the now famous image (p. 191) . The LOC pages describe the two images and provide an analysis of how they are similar. But how can we let our students to some analysis of these photos?
Figure 1:
Here's how: On this same website download the same two images from The Case of the Moved Body in the large RAW TIFF format. If you have access to a projector, show the images on the screen. Then using a paint program such as GIMP or Paint Shop Pro, open the images and begin to look at them in more detail. Now, use the magnifying glass of your paint program to zoom in on the images. The TIFF format of the photo allows you to zoom in to the photo with higher maginifications without distorting the image. So, at these higher resolutions, you can look at the face and clothes of the dead soldier and make comparisons.
In addition to making comparisions, you can also become a crime scene insvestigator by looking for more clues. So, super slueths, using the photograph of the soldier in the "sniper's nest" can you locate his cartridge box, his hat or a blanket? What other things can you find?
More later.
------- References: Frassanito, W. (1975). Gettysburg: A Journey in Time. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Co.
