Civil War Study

As discussed in class, you are expected to write a 5 - 7 page research paper covering some aspect of the Civil War that will involve primary historical documents. This paper will be due on January 13, 2011.



Browse the Valley of the Shadow Archive to help you decide the topic for your paper.



http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/choosepart.html



You may use the page below to help you decide on a topic if you like.



http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/teaching/vclassroom/vclasscontents.html#topics
Here are some primary sources for you to use:

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/
Preparing your own document based question DBQ from the Valley of the Shadow archive.

(Adapted from The Internet as an Opportunity for Students to Create Their Own Document-Based Question by Daniel Kotzin
Beth Tfiloh Dahan High School, Baltimore, Maryland)

Requirements

1. The Question: Your question must be one that requires an answer that uses both the documents chosen and brings in outside knowledge from the reading and/or class discussion. The question must either be comparative (between North/South) or require an answer that spans from 1861-1865. The question must also require an answer that makes a general thesis statement about the Civil War using Franklin County and/or Augusta County as examples.


2. The Documents: You must have between 8-12 documents as part of your DBQ. The majority of your documents should be text from reports, newspapers, letters, and/or diaries. No one document in your DBQ should be more than two paragraphs, but feel free to cut paragraph excerpts from the sources you use. You must also use at least one image or at least one statistic, but no more than two. Each document must have a label that cites where the document is from. For example, if you are using the Diary of Rachel Cormany, you would do the following: From the Diary of Rachel Cormany, July 2, 1863


3. Your Answer: You will be expected to use both the documents and outside information in your answer.


Other possible essays:



Was the Civil War inevitable?



Shelby Foote has said the Civil War changed the United States from an "are" to an "is"; as in prior to the conflict, people would say, "The United States are..." and after the conflict they would say, "The United States is..." Agree or disagree with this assessment.



Explain how the South was able to win the war through to 1963. Were the Confederacy's generals so much superior to the Union's? How was the North unable to exploit it's numerical, financial, and technological superiority?


Compare a civil war personality with another historical figure of another era.


Who should get the blame or the credit for military victory at Gettysburg?


How would North America have been changed had the South won its independence?

Nathan Bedford Forrest - Confederate hero or villain?



Any other topic as approved by me. Please ensure that your topic has enough material to allow you to write a substantive paper. Also make sure your topic has a research question to it that allows you to justify a position rather than tell about something.

You may also write a researched short story, much like the novel, "Shiloh," by Shelby Foote.

Civil War

We have completed our study of the Civil War period. Continued below you will find the supplemental material that we covered in class:

•Battle Flags
http://www.oldstatehouse.com/collections/flags/

•Robert E. Lee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee

•Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
http://www.civilwarhome.com/jackbio.htm

•The Black Flag
The Black Flag was flown by certain irregular Confederate Army units to symbolize that they would neither give, nor accept quarter; symbolizing the opposite of the white flag of surrender.

•Dates of Secession
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215469/secession.htm




First Manassas/Bull Run:

http://www.historyanimated.com/BullRunAnimation.html


Birth of the Rebel Yell:


One of the first accounts of the yell was given at the battle of First Battle of Manasses (Bull Run) during then Brig. General Thomas Jonathan Stonewall Jackson's assault at Henry House Hill where the order was given during a bayonet charge to "yell like furies", and was instrumental in routing the Federal forces under General Irvin McDowell back to Washington D.C.



“Then arose that do-or-die expression, that maniacal maelstrom of sound; that penetrating, rasping, shrieking, blood-curdling noise that could be heard for miles and whose volume reached the heavens–such an expression as never yet came from the throats of sane men, but from men whom the seething blast of an imaginary hell would not check while the sound lasted.” -Colonel Keller Anderson of Kentucky's Orphan Brigade



Zouaves


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zouave#Zouaves_of_the_United_States_of_America_and_of_the_Confederate_States


Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain




http://learn.bowdoin.edu/joshua-lawrence-chamberlain/overview/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Chamberlain





Military Drill (Including moving from Column of Fours to Line of Battle)



http://www.public.asu.edu/~roblewis/ACW/hardee%20toc.htm



Fredericksburg



http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/fredericksburg.htm



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fredericksburg



Irish Brigade



http://irishvolunteers.tripod.com/irish_brigade_history.htm



http://88ny.net/Battles.htm



http://www.28thmass.org/history.htm



A Civil War Christmas


http://www.awod.com/gallery/probono/cwchas/fredxmas.html




http://www.premiumchristmastree.com/a39/Christmas-During-the-Civil-War/article_info.html





William Pendleton --Artillery Chief of the Army of Northern Virginia



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_N._Pendleton




Civil War Music



http://www.civilwarmusic.net/



Origin of the Term "Dixie" to Describe the South


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_(song)




The Emancipation Proclamation



http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/




Symbolism of the Pineapple



http://www.mindspring.com/~sixcatpack/pineappl.htm



Chancellorsville



http://www.civilwaranimated.com/index.php/chancellorsville-east-35



Gettysburg



http://www.civilwaranimated.com/index.php/gettysburg-east-50

http://www.usa-civil-war.com/Gettysburg/g_view_f.html



Iron Brigade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Brigade


Artillery Drill

http://www.nps.gov/archive/vick/interp/lhcannon.htm

1863-1865 Timeline

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~eagleton/e-gov/e-politicalarchive-CivilWar2.htm