Primary Sources

President Lincoln Using Technology

September 19, 2009

There is a very good book called Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails by Tom Wheeler that I encourage everyone to read. The book discusses how President Lincoln used technology, in this case the telegraph, to stay connected with his troops in the field. In today’s technological society, the President knows exactly what is going on with his [...]

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Civil War Medicine

August 29, 2009

The unfortunate Civil War soldier, whether he came from the North or South, not only was in the army when the killing power of weapons was being brought to a brand-new peak of efficiency; he enlisted in the closing years of an era when the science of medicine was woefully, incredibly imperfect. Efficient weapons and [...]

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Using Photos Part 2

August 22, 2009

Okay, so back in December I asked you to take a look at the following photograph so we could explore all of its hidden treasures. This photograph shows the same building from my December 8th post that showed wounded soldiers from the battles in the “Wilderness” at Fredericksburg, Virginia, May 1864. This Gardner photograph of [...]

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Using Photos Part 1

August 8, 2009

So I thought that I would start a series on how to use photographs from the Civil War era in order to increase understanding. Looking at photographs can tell us a great deal about many different aspects of the war. Today we will discuss the following photograph from the Library of Congress website: This photo [...]

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Choices & Commitments: Soldiers @ Gettysburg

July 3, 2009

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 [...]

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Clara Barton

May 31, 2009

Clara Barton is one of the most famous women in American history. So while in 4th grade, it came time for my daughter to do a report on a famous person from history, she chose Clara. What was even more fun was that she wanted to do a slide show of pictures about Clara as [...]

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The HomeFront: Women and the Civil War

May 17, 2009

The roles women played during the Civil War have only recently been given the same respect as famous generals and battles. If we look in the context of this time period, the woman was considered the light of the hearth and home. Upon her fell the duty of managing the home, bearing and teaching the [...]

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The Death of John Wilkes Booth

April 25, 2009

April 26th marks the day that John Wilkes Booth was shot in the neck and killed by a Union Calvary soldier while hiding in a barn on the farm of Richard Garrett near Bowling Green, Virginia. Photo of the Garrett farm from http://www.nps.gov/archive/foth/escapjwb.htm Since April 14th, Booth had spent many days feeling south into Virginia. [...]

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The Assassination of President Lincoln

April 15, 2009

On April 14, 1863, President and Mrs. Lincoln were attending a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Washington’s Ford’s Theater. As the Lincolns and their guests, Major Rathbone and his fiancee Clara Harris, watched the play John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box and shot the president in the head. Here is an interview from [...]

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On on the Lincoln Assassination

April 14, 2009

Special thanks to Dennis Lawrence of the Gettysburg Discussion Group for pointing out the following from Speaking about Lincoln and The Lincoln Log for April 14 ————————————————————————————————- Friday, April 14, 1865. Capt. Robert Lincoln arrives in Washington from scene of Gen. R. E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Va., in time for 8 A.M. breakfast with [...]

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Using Photographs from the LOC

March 29, 2009

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 [...]

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Abraham Lincoln the Inventor?

February 8, 2009

While doing some research on Abe Lincoln I came across this interesting article from the March 1924 edition of Popular Mechanics. The article discusses a model of a device for helping to lift vessels over a shoal. The article also has some interesting illustrations. I’m not going to vouch for the validity of the article, [...]

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Using Art to teach about the Civil War pt 1.

February 5, 2009

So the other day at lunch time, it was a nice day so I decided 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 [...]

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Election Day in 1860 & 1864

November 4, 2008

The following are from The Lincoln Log which shows the daily activities of President Lincoln. Tuesday, November 6, 1860. — Springfield, IL Lincoln spends most of it at his state house office. About 3 P.M. he walks quietly to polling place in courthouse. Crowd gives him ovation. After cutting his own name from ballot, he [...]

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The Gettysburg Address

October 1, 2008

“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 [...]

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Civil War Women – Mary Todd Lincoln

September 25, 2008

Mary Todd Lincoln was born in Lexington, Kentucky on December 13, 1818.   Mary’s mom died when she was 7 years old. After her mom died, her dad remarried to Elizabeth Humphreys and she had 2 sons and 2 daughters who became her half-brothers and half-sisters. Mary attended Madame Victoria Mentelle’s Boarding School.  She received an [...]

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PA State Archives Civil War Flag Collection

October 6, 2006

Ever read stories of how Civil War soldiers and color bearers would defend their regimental flags at all costs. Stories of heroism and bravery that is beyond belief because these color bearers knew that they were the target for enemy fire. Tales of men tearing up a flag and hiding it in their coats to avoid it [...]

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