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"Historians Speak Out Against Proposed Walmart at Wilderness Civil War Battlefield" Dec. 11, 2008. On December 11, in a letter to Walmart President and CEO Lee Scott, 253 historians from throughout the country urged the retail giant to reconsider plans to build a 138,000 square-foot supercenter immediately adjacent to the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County, VA. Read more >>>
"How Lincoln Might Fix Our Economic Mess" by Richard Striner. As America grapples with the worst economic chain-reaction since 1929 -- and as President-Elect Obama takes time to consider more closely the methods of Abraham Lincoln -- it is time to reconsider a monetary method that Lincoln and the Civil War Republicans used, a monetary method that America's leading economists attempted to revive in the 1930s. . . Read more >>>
"Michelle Obama's family tree has roots in a Carolina slave plantation" - Chicago Tribune Dec. 1, 2008 More than 200 slaves lived in the whitewashed shacks in the early 1800s, and some of their descendants remained for more than 100 years after the Civil War. Read more >>>
"The Civil War Through Slaves' Eyes: An Interview with Andrew Ward Robin Lindley" As he researched the stories of African-Americans in the nineteenth century, award-winning author Andrew Ward found more and more comments from slaves about the Civil War. He was amazed to find that a narrative history of the war from the perspective of slaves-the people affected most by the conflict's outcome-had never been written. . . Read more >>>
TOCOW A Civil War Blog
TOCWOC (The Order of Civil War Obsessively Compulsed) is a group Civil War blog formed in September 2007 with the purpose is to enlighten and entertain readers on every aspect of the Civil War, whether it be Social, Political, Military, or other history. Read more >>>
General
NEW The American Civil War
This is one of the oldest and most impressive gateways to Civil War web sites. Categories are updated regularly and include Civil War Armies, Battles, Battlefields, and Historic Sites, Diaries, Letters, and Memoirs, Discussion Groups/Message Boards, Documents and Records, Generals, Movies and TV, Slavery and Emancipation, and much more! Recent spotlights include Union and Confederate Veterans in South Dakota and Animated Accounts of Civil War Battles.
NEW The Civil War Homepage
The Civil War Home Page is a well organized gateway to thousands of pages of Civil War material including Photos, Images, Battles, Documents, Southern Historical Papers, Troops Furnished, Death Stats, Associations, Letters & Diaries, and more. The photo database has over 1,100 of Civil War related pictures and official reports include battle reports from the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies written by the commanding generals.
U.S. Civil War Center: Civil War Collections & the Civil War Book Review Produced by Louisiana State University, the mission of the United States Civil War Center is to promote interdisciplinary study of the American Civil War. The site is not a museum or library but serves to locate, index, and make available Civil War data on the Internet. To find specific research materials search the LSU Libraries' Online Public Access Catalog for books, journals, manuscripts, microfilm, maps, and other materials found in Special Collections. If you're looking specifically for manuscripts and other unpublished materials, the LLMVC has more than 5,000 manuscript collections. A great place to begin web research.
Lincoln and Lee at Antietam - America's Bloodiest Day
NEW Index of Civil War Information Available on the Internet The layout is simple and sparse, but if you're studying the U.S. Civil War a fine way to begin is to explore the Index of Civil War Information available on the Internet by Dick Weeks. There are dozens of categories to choose from that will lead you to a bevy of web resources on multiple Civil War topics.
NEW Civil War.com CivilWar.com is divided into 11 sections and the overview section offers causes of the war, a summary of the war, a look at the life of a soldier and the timeline of events. Other sections include Battles, Resources, Weapons, Travel, News, For Teachers, Forum, People, and Slavery. Content is as deep as some other sites, but Resources section is for more in-depth study provides access to books, recorded histories, the Official Record, photographs, letters, diaries, links, genealogical information, statistics and government records.
NEW Civil War Search Directory The Civil War Search Directory allows you to do in-depth search of around 1,500 sites on any Civil War related term using a program called Custom Search Engine (CSE). The search provides you only with sites that include real information on the Civil War and excludes all other sites.
The American Civil War Homepage
The American Civil War Homepage began as a class project at the University of Tennessee in 1994 and has grown considerably since. Has useful information including timelines, descriptions of battles (state by state), letters, documents, and links. Categories include General Resources, The Secession Crisis and Before, Images of Wartime, Biographical Information, Histories and Bibliographies, Documentary Records, State/Local Studies -- by State, Battles & Campaigns, Rosters & Regimental Histories, Other Military Information, Civil War Reenactors, updated 8 December 2008 Civil War Round Tables, Fictional Accounts of Wartime
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877 This Library of Congress exhibition contains succinct overviews of several aspects of the Civil War and Reconstruction and features primary sources, maps, and image. Topics include The South During the Civil War * The North During the Civil War * African-American Soldiers During the Civil War * Civil War Soldiers' Stories * The Freedmen * Reconstruction and Rights * The Travails of Reconstruction.
Civil War Resources from the VMI Archives
This site highlights collections of the Virginia Military Institute, including manuscripts and battle resource guides. Special topics include VMI's Civil War generals, Stonewall Jackson's resources, a war chronology, Robert E. Lee's funeral, and more.
NEW Footnote.com: Civil War 1860-1880
Footnote.com has created a place where original historical documents are combined with social networking in order to create a unique experience involving the stories of our past. The Footnote.com collections feature documents, most never before available before on the Internet, relating to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, U.S. Presidents, historical newspapers and naturalization documents. Access to all documents is subscription-based, but there are many documents available at no cost. Free Civil War documents include American Milestone Documents, American Colonization Society, Brady Civil War Photos.
Great American History
This is a diverse site on the Civil War that provides educational materials and research services. Some of the unconventional topics covered are religious revivalism in the armies, unsung heroes, and Lincoln's belief in God.
Civil War @ Smithsonian
Explore the Civil War through the extensive collections of the Smithsonian Institution. Includes a timeline and many images of artifacts and documents.
Civil War Interactive Civil War interactive is a daily news source for Civil War related news, events, reviews, etc. and is free. The News Archives can be browsed by date, by state, or by keyword. LinkCentral features websites rated as "5-Star" or "Editors Choice". The new Book Nook focuses on books that are published within the last 6 months. An all-new section allows you to play Civil War related games and puzzles online and one of the most requested features is the Trivia Archives.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln Papers The complete Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 20,000 documents. The collection is organized into three "General Correspondence" series which include incoming and outgoing correspondence and enclosures, drafts of speeches, and notes and printed material. Most of the 20,000 items are from the 1850s through Lincoln's presidential years. Excellent site for a research project.
There are two special presentations: Emancipation Proclamation
Provides a brief introduction to the Emancipation Proclamation as well as a timeline and four related primary sources. Assassination of President Lincoln
Provides an introduction, timeline, and photo gallery that documents the assassination of the nation's 16th President 1860-65.
NEW The Time of the Lincolns This is a companion site to the PBS video Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided that weaves together the lives of Abraham and Mary Lincoln. Major sections include Partisan Politics, Slavery and Freedom, A Rising Nation, Americans at War, and A Woman's World. Special features include a Flash-generated map of America on the eve of war, a Technology Gallery, and virtual tour of a slave cabin. The web site also includes a six-hour program transcript, letters and first-hand accounts from soldiers, nurses, abolitionists, and others, a list of related books, articles, and Web sites.
Abraham Lincoln Online
Abraham Lincoln Online brings you news about Lincoln books, speeches and writings, historic places, and events. Sections include This Week in History, Today in Lincoln's Life, Lincoln News Highlights, and Photo Tours of Lincoln Places. Find out about Lincoln events, new books about Lincoln, and more.
Lincoln/Net Lincoln/Net provides historical materials from Abraham Lincoln's Illinois years, including Lincoln's writings and speeches, as well as other materials illuminating antebellum Illinois. This site includes interpretive materials, featuring a brief Lincoln biography and discussions of eight major historical themes. Lincoln/Net provides over fifteen million words of primary source materials, over 1500 images, video commentary on various aspects of Lincoln's life by historians and, and even a sound archive. Lincoln/Net also offers lesson plans that utilize the primary source documents found in the Lincoln/Net database.
Mr. Lincoln's White House (and affiliated sites) This Lincoln Institute site describes the White House and nearby Washington, and profiles Lincoln family members, Cabinet officers and Vice Presidents, members of Congress, generals, and others. Mr. Lincoln and Freedom, a related site, details the progress of Mr. Lincoln's opposition to slavery from his years in the Illinois State Legislature to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. Other related sites include: Mr. Lincoln and Friends, which reviews the many men and a few women whose friendships helped determine Mr. Lincoln's political progress and success in the state capital in Springfield, Illinois and the nation's capital in Washington, D.C.; Mr. Lincoln and the Founders, which examines the impact of the Founders, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution on Mr. Lincoln's life, political thinking and political actions in the 1850s and 1860s; and Mr. Lincoln and New York, which appraises how the center of political, media, and economic power in 19th century America interacted with, supported, and tormented Mr. Lincoln both before and during his Presidency.
Harper's Weekly Reports, 1857-1874 For over a quarter of a century, Harper's Weekly captured the lion's share of the national newspaper audience. Materials from the magazine are presented in order to give a true historical picture of the leading 19th-century newspaper's view of black Americans.
Special Topics
The Valley of the Shadows
The Valley of the Shadow depicts two communities, one Northern and one Southern, through the experience of the American Civil War. The project focuses on Augusta County, Virginia and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and creates a social history of the coming, fighting, and aftermath of the Civil War. The project is a hypermedia archive of thousands of sources for the period before, during, and after the Civil War for Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Those sources include newspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, church records, population census, agricultural census, and military records. Students can explore the conflict and write their own histories, or reconstruct the life stories of women, African Americans, farmers, politicians, soldiers, and families. The project is intended for secondary schools, community colleges, libraries, and universities.
Racial Satire and the Civil War Presented by the University of Virginia, this site is a case study that explores racial caricature in editorial cartoons at the time of Lincoln.
The Battle of Antietam
This NPR audio clip features the views of renowned historian James McPherson who argues that Antietam was a turning point in the war.
NEW Civil War Richmond Civil War Richmond is an online research project designed to collect documents, photographs, and maps pertaining to Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War. The "other sites" section deals with other important topics, including: battery defenses, cemeteries, industry, and civilian activity. There is much information regarding the hospitals and prisons in Richmond, so these have been given their own sections.
Civil War Women The Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University offers an impressive collection on women's experiences in the Civil War. For instance, it uses diaries and papers to profile three Civil War era
women: Rose O'Neal, Alice Williamson, and Sarah E. Thompson. Primary Sources on the Internet provides links to manuscript collections at Duke which have been scanned and transcribed as well as links to other Civil War women's archival documents which are available in cyberspace. This web site was rated among the top humanities websites by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is featured on their EDSITEment web site. Diaries, Letters, and other Documents, and Photographs and Prints.
Civil War Women:
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War This Smithsonian website skillfully integrates Flash video and text to examine armed conflicts involving the U.S. from the Revolutionary War to the war in Iraq. Each conflict contains a brief video clip, statistical information, and a set of artifacts. There is also a Civil War mystery, an exhibition self-guide, and a teacher's guide. The Civil War section contains an introductory movie and short essay on the conflict as well as historic images and artifacts.
NEW American Civil War Magazine Articles Part of OldMagazineArticles.com, these free articles cover a range of Civil War topics and are available in PDF format. There are also sub-sections of articles on Gettysburg and Lincoln. OldMagazineArticles.com is a growing archive of historic magazine articles that address a broad number of topics such as the American Civil War, art, Prohibition, WW I, WW II, immigration, literature, music and a good deal more.
The Iron Road (PBS) Part of PBS's American Experience series, this site is the story of the building of the first east-west railroad link. There is a teacher's guide, a bibliography, photos, and recommended readings
Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, Activities, and more
The Crisis at Fort Sumter Crisis at Fort Sumter is an interactive historical simulation and decision making program. Using text, images, and sound, it reconstructs the dilemmas of policy formation and decision making in the period between Abraham Lincoln's election in in November 1860 and the battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861.
Teaching with Documents (Lesson Plan) The NARA has compiled many Civil War primary sources, including several sound files of interviews with the last surviving confederate veteran. Lesson plans and activity worksheets are at the bottom of the page and can be applied to any visual document.
The Mathew Brady Bunch - Lesson Plan Designed for use toward the end of a unit on the Civil War, this lesson allows students to analyze photographs and evaluate how they can influence understanding of and attitudes about the war. Much of the lesson is spent discussing how to use photographic primary sources; students learn that photographers often manipulated the scenes they were capturing and discuss how these sources should therefore be utilized. Materials are from the Library of Congress' American Memory collections. Designed for grade 7, but adaptable to high school.
Photojournalism - Lesson Plan By close analysis of photographs from several wars, including the Civil War, students consider how and why photographers covered war and how pictures can reflect their biases. Students also learn to differentiate between observations and conclusions. The lesson includes a thorough procedure with instructional tips for teachers to follow, pre-selected photographs from the Library of Congress' American Memory collections and worksheets for students. Designed for grades 5 to 8.
Civil War Battle Fields - Virtual Field Trip Using the provided web sites, students will follow Kelly Fortner's lesson plan to understand the significance of each Civil War battle. Activities include writing battle outlines and reading eyewitness accounts of the fighting.
NEW Lincoln's First Inaugural Address This Civil War.com lesson plan helps students understand the historical context and significance of Lincoln's inaugural address through archival documents such as campaign posters, sheet music, vintage photographs and documents. Features EDSITEment-reviewed sites and six suggested activities.
Lesson Plan: The Civil War This Civil War lesson plan includes many topics of discussion. It also encourages students to build their background knowledge of the Civil War through research and a suggested reading list.
Time of the Lincolns: A Teachers Guide The PBS film Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided and this companion Web site, The Time of the Lincolns, offer insights into topics in American history including women's rights, slavery, abolition, politics and partisanship, the growth of the industrial economy, and the Civil War. You can use part or all of the film, or delve into the rich resources available on this Web site to learn more, either in a classroom or on your own. PBS provides a lesson plan that encourages debate and discussion among students.
The Civil War Through a Child's Eye - Lesson Plan This lesson uses primary sources such as photos and daguerreotypes as well as historical fiction to encourage students to view the Civil War from a different perspective, that of a child. The plan culminates in each student using Readers Theater and writing a literary first-person account of one of the photographed children. Pre-selected photos and daguerreotypes from the Library of Congress's American Memory collections are provided, as well as instructional material on use of the primary sources and links to a variety of other Civil War Web sites. Designed for grades 6 to 8.
Ladies, Contraband, and Spies: Women in the Civil War - Lesson Plan In this concise lesson, students use primary sources from the Library of Congress' American Memory collections to research and understand the impact of the Civil War on women. By studying women who had different roles in and perspectives on the war, ranging from plantation mistresses to slave women and spies, students have to consider how the war affected women based on their position in society. In addition to advancing skills in using primary sources, the lesson also has students present their results visually with PowerPoint and in writing with a short textbook entry. Designed for grades 10 to 11.
Lesson Plan: Lee and Grant at Appomattox Court House
In this PBS lesson plan, students are asked to examine the terms and conditions of Lee's surrender. The lesson plan provides ample material for research and discussion regarding the end of the Civil War. PBS recommends that this lesson plan be used in conjunction with the film The Civil War, directed by Ken Burns.
Teacher Lesson Plan: What Do You See?
In this LOC lesson plan, students will examine one Civil War photograph from the selected catalog in extreme detail. This lesson plan includes all the necessary handouts and class materials for convenience. Suitable for grades 5-12
Lesson Plan: Lincoln Goes to War In this MarcoPolo lesson plan, students examine Abraham Lincoln's decision to mobilize the Union Army against the South. Particular attention is paid to external factors that influenced the President's decision. Recommended for grades 9-12
Lesson Plan - We Must Not be Enemies: Lincolns First Inaugural Address Students will gain a greater knowledge of Lincoln's presidency in this MarcoPolo lesson plan. A copy of the first inaugural address is included, along with many other documents and six complete lesson plans. Written for students in grades 6-8
Lesson Plan - Eve of the Civil War: People and Places of the North and South
This MarcoPolo lesson plan is intended to provide students with a knowledge of the social climate immediately before the Civil War. It comes with 6 different lessons and a good selection of online resources. Recommended for grades 6-8
American Civil War Ethnography This website has been designed in order to assist students in the creation of an ethnography of the United States during the Civil War Era.
September 11 & The Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was read at the September 11 anniversary ceremony. Read the Gettysburg Address and discuss with your partner(s) its main themes. Why do you think the Gettysburg Address is appropriate now?
The Meaning of Memorials Inspired by AMERICAN VISIONS' online content, middle school students will explore the historical and cultural meaning of memorials, our country's "organs of social memory," with a focus on works and structures eulogizing the American Civil War. Using a variety of online, multimedia, and community resources, students will also investigate how the Civil War impacted their community and how the War and its veterans are remembered locally. This lesson is especially appropriate as part of a unit on the Civil War, or as an excellent way to honor and give meaning to the Memorial Day holiday in May. Doing field research, students will learn about the lives of local Civil War soldiers firsthand and will gain confidence in their ability to discover the past for themselves.
WebQuest - Abraham Lincoln: Civil War The Student Resources section of The American Nation companion web site features introductions to chapters, interactive quizzes, flashcards, web links, an American History Glossary, and an American History Appendix
Interpreting Primary Sources Digital History provides brief excerpts from primary sources and statistics, as well as questions to think about the topics of: Sectional Conflict, Secession and the Civil War, and Civil War
Digital History Resource Guides The Digital Resource Guides provide links to American history web sites by period, historical overviews, readings (online textbook chapter, Reader's Companion), primary source documents (documents, maps, cartoons), teaching resources (chronologies, maps, quizzes), audio-visual resources, and additional resources. They are an excellent and comprehensive teaching resource.
HistoryTeacher.net: AP United States History Quizzes A New York teacher has produced a great general site for history teachers that offers AP-level United States history quizzes on many different periods and topics.
The American People: The Union in Peril PowerPoint Presentation on the causes of the American Civil War as part of the online companion to The American People. Go to PowerPoint Presentations and click Chapter 14.
The American People: The Union Severed PowerPoint Presentation on the American Civil War as part of the online companion to The American People. Go to PowerPoint Presentations and click Chapter 15.
Role of Women in the Civil War Working in collaborative teams, students use a variety of sources to prepare multimedia presentations about the different roles that women played in the Civil War. High School level.
Women in the American Civil War "You will learn about military battles and the lives of women during the American Civil War, 1861-1865, using both the Internet and other resources. You will work both by yourself and in a group throughout this unit. Your group will write 2 letters from a woman who may have lived during the Civil War and 2 letters from the woman's relative."
Civil War: Blank Map The companion web site to The American People offers blank maps related to various topics in American history. The maps can be printed or placed in a PowerPoint presentation. Go to Blank Maps for Quizzes.
