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!

Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic
Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868

I. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades
will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose, among other things, “of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late
rebellion.” What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foe? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their
death a tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the Nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders.

Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and found mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation’s gratitude,–the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.

II. It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to call
attention to this Order, and lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

III. Department commanders will use every effort to make this order effective.

By command of:
JOHN A. LOGAN,
Commander-in-Chief.

N. P. CHIPMAN,
Adjutant-General.

Here is a quick link to some great resources on Harriet Tubman that are available via the digital collections at the Library of Congress. These resources include items like photographs, books, and various manuscripts.

The Harriet Tubman Online Resources page provides numerous links to different websites that all contain digital historical resources related to Harriet Tubman. There is also a nice bibliography for additional reading.

Until next time….

I came across the following link and thought I would share:

The HarpWeek website and has over 400 political cartoons on the Lincoln presidency.  You can view different people, symbols, topics, places or artists that had something to do with these cartoons.  You could easily have your students select one of the hundreds of cartoons and then research and write an “editorial” abut the cartoon.

Here is an interesting example:

This cartoon is from The Phunny Phellow paper published in October 1864 and was drawn by Thomas Nast.  Confederate President Jefferson Davis can be seen here issuing a quote that he gave during an interview.  According to some, Lincoln was the major reason that there could be no peace in the country.  Thomas Nast, who was an ally of Lincoln, used this cartoon to illustrate how Davis also shared some of the blame in preventing peace.  Pay particular attention to the “History of the Confederacy” heading.

Why did Nast choose those locations and events?  What impact do you think this cartoon would have on people?

Check out the cartoons and let me know how you can integrate them.

Here is a screencast that I did for you on using primary sources to get your students to act like historians.

Until next time…

There are numerous online libraries of digital archives that offer a vast array of primary sources that allow exploration and interpretation of the past. These primary sources are different however, in that they are not touched or felt but displayed on a computer screen in an electronic format (Friedman, 2005). These online libraries are often referred to as digital resource centers (DRC). According to Molebash (2002), DRCs contain various types of primary sources in digital format, such as personal letters and diaries, articles from newspapers, various types of records, photographs and images, as well as audio and video files. Digital primary sources that are available via a DRC make it possible for students to uncover details of the past while engaging in historical thinking (Tally, 1996). These libraries can have resources on a topic ranging from a single event such as the Civil War to the entire history of the United States.

Digital historical resources are usually stored within digital resource centers that promote their use on the Internet. Rosenzweig (2001), has demonstrated that both professional and amateur historians are developing these Internet collections at amazing rates. One of the most comprehensive digital resource centers is the Library of Congress’s (2003) American Memory collection which houses millions of documents within hundreds of different collections. According to The Center for Technology and Teacher Education at the University of Virginia (2004) a digital resource center is defined as Internet based academic collections that include the following elements:

• The resources have the potential of transforming university teaching and learning
• The resources can stand the test of peer review
• Each center has a connection to K-12 education
• The products are relevant for K-12 education.

Lee, Doolittle, and Hicks (2006) found that the vast majority of teachers surveyed were not familiar with either Library of Congress’ American Memory site nor the University of Virginia’s Valley of the Shadow site and had therefore never even used the sites as part of their instruction. In contrast to not using DRCs at all, Lee (2001) showed that while participants, pre-service social studies teachers, utilized a DRC for developing lessons that contained inquiry activities in which the goals was for students to reach their own conclusions by examining different documents. Some pre-service teachers did not allow students to have unrestricted access to documents about controversial or potentially inflammatory issues such as race and slavery. Rather than deny students access to these types of documents, many teachers chose to “mediate” their experiences by having them examine what were perceived to be controversial documents within a certain context or with prior warning (Lee, 2001).

2/7/11 UPDATE:  Be sure to check out the Smithsonian’s History Explorer’s Resources on the Civil War

What are some of your favorite digital resource centers?
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References:

Center for Technology and Teacher Education, University of Virginia (September 2004). Digital Resource Centers. Retrieved August 8, 2006, from Digital Resource Centers Web site: http://www.teacherlink.org/content/social/digresources/

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

Lee, J. K. (2001, August ). Pre-service social studies teachers’ “reckoning” with historical
interpretations and controversy arising from the use of digital historical resources. Journal of the Association for History and Computing, 4(2), Retrieved October 2006, from http://mcel.pacificu.edu/JAHC/JAHCIV2/ARTICLES/lee/leeindex.html

Library of Congress, (2002, Sept.). Types of primary sources. Retrieved April 9, 2006, from Library of Congress Learning Page Web site: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/psources/types.html

Molebash, P. (2002). Digital Resource Centers. Retrieved February 27, 2007, from Digital Historical Inquiry Project Web site: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/dhip/resources.htm

Rosenzweig, R. (2001). The road to xanadu: public and private pathways on the history web. Journal of American History, 88, 548-579.

Tally, W. (1996). Up against authentic history: Helping teachers make the most of primary source materials on-line. Electronic Learning. 16(2), 40-41.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I have blogged about Christmas in the past so I thought that I would continue the tradition of showing more connections of Christmas and the Civil War.

This time I am going to focus on a famous sketch of “Merry Old Santa Claus” by Thomas Nast.

This sketch appeared in the January 1, 1881 edition of Harper’s Weekly. In this photo we see “Merry Old Santa Claus” clad with toys, a pack on his back, his hat adorned with holly leaves and smoking his clay pipe. This early images of Santa have remained a

So, let’s do a little seek and find.  Can you find the following:

• A baby doll
• A pocket watch
• A book
• An officers sword
• A belt with a US buckle
• A toy horse

So, from my family to yours, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.

Today is Thanksgiving and it is a holiday steeped in tradition. I wonder how many of you know that it was Abraham Lincoln who, on October 3, 1863, proclaimed “the last Thursday of November” as Thanksgiving Day. Another interesting bit of information is that a lady by the name of Sara J. Hale, the Editress of the “Ladys Book”, wrote a letter to President Lincoln on September 28, 1863 and asked him proclaim that day in November as a National Thanksgiving Day. I have included a copy of Lincoln’s proclamation at the end of this post.

Of course, George Washington also recommended a day of public Thanksgiving in 1789.

In addition, I thought it would be interesting to show the following Alfred Waud sketch from the Library of Congress. This is a sketch of a Union camp on Thanksgiving in 1861. If you look closely you can see a soldier carrying a turkey and a dog waiting for him to drop a scrap. There are pots cooking over fires, and hungry men awaiting at a table on the right hand side. The TIFF version of the photo can be found HERE.

So, while you are watching the parade and eating your turkey, pause and say thanks to the soldiers not only of today but of the Civil War era, for without them, what we have to be thankful for might be vastly different.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed,

Done at the city of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State

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References:
The history place – Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved November 22, 2006, from The History Place Web site: http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/thanks.htm

During the recent ISTE Conference, I had the opportunity to meet Karen Needles who is the Director for the Lincoln Archives Digital Project (LADP).

According the the website, “the Lincoln Archives Digital Project is providing unlimited access to the historic but fragile paper records of the administration of President Abraham Lincoln.”  This project is “identifying documents from the State Department, Treasury Department, War Department, Justice Department, and other federal offices from the period of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency.”

With a few exceptions, the time period covered by the project is March 4, 1861, through April 15, 1865.

While this site is primarily a “pay for access” website ($2,000 for schools for a unlimited access for a year or $150 for a single PC), it does have some access to free resources related to Lincoln.  Karen, was kind enough to provide me with a temporary login so I could explore the site in more detail.

The Lincoln Archive Digital Project is broken into several sections including Library of Congress, National Archives, Dictionary, Podcasts, Photographs, Lesson Plans, Maps, Cartoons, Newspapers and Timeline to name a few.

So, I thought I would provide a review of a few of the sections.  Let’s start with the Newspapers.

The above graphic shows the listing of the newspapers that users can access via the LADP.  Each of the papers has an overview and background information about the paper (available for free) and then you can drill down to view specific dates for the papers.

Another cool section of the LADP is the maps section. You can view Civil War Battle Maps, City Maps, State Maps, European Maps, Territory Maps, and US Maps.

What is really cool about the maps (and other parts of the website) is a feature called Zoomify.  This feature allows you to zoom in on the maps (or newpapers or photos) and look at the artifact in greater detail. The following two photos are of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Here is the map at normal magnification:

Here is that same map, at max magnification:

Check out the details!  This feature can be used to really get your classrooms talking.  For example, why was the reserved artillery placed where it was?

Another interesting section is the Political Cartoons where you can also click on one of several papers and get some background information about the publication.  From there you can view and examine various cartoons from the period.  One interesting thing that you could do is to have your students compare and contrast political cartoons from the Civil War to those of today.

Two of the free sections of the website that I especially like is the Lesson Plans and the Timeline.  The Lesson Plans section contains links to some really good Lincoln related lessons and resources for use in your classrooms.  The timeline is a very well done and includes events from the day Lincoln was born in 1809 up until his death in 1865.

I recommend that you check out the Lincoln Archive Digital Project and let me know what you think.  If you are a school this could be a great resource for you and your students.

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.

Once your students read and research these primary sources, have them reflect on how they would have felt being in the same situation or perhaps receiving one of the letters from an older brother.

Just a few more simple ways to engage students in history.

Until next time…