Classroom Resources Infographic: North-South Comparisons before the Civil War Economics, Geography, Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12 Download this infographic as an image.
Classroom Resources Infographic: Casualties and Costs of the Civil War Economics, Government and Civics, World History 9, 10, 11, 12 View this infographic as a PDF.
Spotlight on: Primary Source A proclamation on the suspension of habeas corpus, 1862 The doctrine of habeas corpus is the right of any person under arrest to appear in person before the court, to ensure that they have not been falsely accused. The US Constitution specifically protects this right in Article I, Section...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The price of war: A letter from Mary Kelly to Sarah Gordon, 1862 James Kelly served with the 14th Indiana Volunteers beginning in 1861. In March 1862, his wife, Mary, traveled to the field hospital in Virginia where he lay wounded after the Battle of Winchester. She described the terrible...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on the Siege of Vicksburg, 1863 One of the Union’s top military objectives was to gain control of the Mississippi River, and thereby split the Confederacy in two. General Ulysses S. Grant took up this challenge late in 1862 but was frustrated for several months by...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Civil War and early submarine warfare, 1863 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Civil War combat foreshadowed modern warfare with the introduction of the machine gun, repeater rifles, and trench warfare, and the use of trains to quickly move troops. However, one of the most celebrated tactical innovations of the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Sergeant Francis Fletcher of the 54th Massachusetts on equal pay for Black soldiers, 1864 Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Francis H. Fletcher, a 22-year-old clerk from Salem, Massachusetts, enlisted as a private in Company A of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on February 13, 1863. One year after the regiment left Boston with great fanfare,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source My Country, ’Tis of Thee Samuel Francis Smith was a twenty-four-year-old Baptist seminary student in Massachusetts when he wrote the lyrics of "America (My Country, ’Tis of Thee)," the patriotic song that would serve as an unofficial national anthem for...
Spotlight on: Primary Source African American soldiers at the Battle of Fort Wagner, 1863 On July 18, 1863, on Morris Island near Charleston, South Carolina, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a Union regiment of free African American men, began their assault on Fort Wagner, a Confederate stronghold. After the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Mary Todd Lincoln on life after the White House, 1870 Economics Mary Todd Lincoln’s years in the White House were a combination of triumph and tragedy. Never fully accepted by the public and vilified by the press for overspending, her tenure as First Lady was unstable at best. After the death of...