Teaching the Civil War with Technology

As you know, I love looking at Civil War era photographs and I have discussed the site Virtual Civil War before.  Mike Lynaugh is a professional photographer who has created a collection of photographs of Civil War battlefields and reenactments know as Virtual Civil War.

And on this the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, I’d like to share one of my favorite collections.  Mike’s Gettysburg Gallery contains some incredible photographs of the battlefield as it looks today. What a great way for you to tour the battlefield with your students. Or art teachers can use the photographs to discuss some of the techniques the Mike uses to create these terrific photographs.

Here are two of my favorites:

This is a close up of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (PVI) monument on Oak Ridge. This is Sallie Ann Jarrett, the mascot of the the 11th PVI who was present at Gettysburg and got left behind when the 11th fell back through the town. Sallie stayed on the field, behind enemy lives with the dead and wounded of the 11th. More on her for another post.

My other favorite is this one of an extreme close up of the Virginia Monument showing the details that go into creating such a magnificent monument.
Be sure to check out Mike’s other galleries such as Antietam, Harper’s Ferry and Manassas.

PS: I also have a special photo of the 11th PVI monument as my desktop wallpaper.

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Thanks to the Wig-Wags Blog for posting this interesting article on The Civil War’s Last Veterans, Wives and Stats to bring us even MORE statistics to ponder. Yippee!!

According to the post, the following table comes from Fact Sheet: America’s Wars by the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs:

Civil War (1861-1865)
Total U.S. Servicemembers (Union)…………..2,213,363
Battle Deaths (Union)………………………………140,414
Other Deaths (In Theater) (Union)………………..224,097
Non-mortal Woundings (Union)…………………..281,881
Total Servicemembers (Conf.) ………..1,050,000
Battle Deaths (Confederate) ………………74,524
Other Deaths (In Theater) (Confed.) (note 3, 4)……59,297
Non-mortal Woundings (Confed.) ……………..Unknown

Discussion questions for your class:

1. What percentage of Total U.S. Servicemembers were killed in battle?
2. What percentage of Total Confederate Servicemembers were killed in battle?
3. According to the website, the Confederate figures are incomplete. Why do you think they are incomplete?

Now let’s add in some additional figures from the same website:

America’s Wars Total
U.S. Military Service During War…………….41,891,368
Battle Deaths………………………………………….651,022
Other Deaths (In Theater)………………………….308,797
Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater)………….230,279
Non-mortal Woundings…………………………..1,431,290
Living War Veterans…………………………….17,484,000
Living Veterans (War & Peacetime)…………23,532,000

Based on this table ask your students:

1. What percentage of soldiers fought during the Civil War when compared to all America’s Wars?
2. What percentage of Union Battle Deaths make up the total for all America’s Wars?
3. How would having more accurate Confederate data impact these figures?

Don’t you just love math.

Until next time….

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The Gettysburg Cyclorama, officially known as the “Battle of Gettysburg” Cyclorama, is a 360 degree circular painting that depicts Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1863. According to the Gettysburg National Military Park, it’s one of the last remaining cycloramas in the United States.

The Gettysburg Cyclorama was created by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux. Starting in 1882, Philippoteaux spent several weeks sketching the battlefield in order to accurately depict the climatic charge. Philippoteaux also had the opportunity to interview several veterans of the battle in order to obtain their thoughts on how the battle transpired.

Over the next 18 months, Philippoteaux and his assistants created the massive work and finally the “Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg” opened in Chicago in 1883. He then went on to paint a second version to be shown in Boston in 1884 again to tremendous acclaim. This Boston version of the painting would eventually come to reside in Gettysburg in 1913. The National Park Service in Gettysburg purchased the painting and placed it in the visitor in 1962. The Gettysburg Cyclorama is 359 feet long, 27 feet high and weighs an estimated 3 tons.

Currently the Gettysburg Cyclorama is undergoing restoration and will be moved to the new visitor center in 2008.

Thanks to the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation, you can download hi-res TIFF images of the painting and restoration project. These hi-res images allow you to zoom in and see parts of the painting in great detail, including some of the damage and the on-going restoration.

Ideas for the classroom:

• Have your students think about if they were Philippoteaux in Gettysburg in 1882, what types of questions would you ask, what would you be sketching, what would you be looking for?
• What would be some of issues related to creating a painting of this size?

• Have your students view a portion of the painting and have them sketch a section.

These are just a couple of ideas. What ideas do you have for integrating this into your classroom?

Until next time…
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References:
Heiser, J. (2005, Dec). The gettysburg cyclorama. Retrieved July 17, 2007, from Gettysburg National Military Park Web site: http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/gettcyclo.htm

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Today’s post will be used to list some blogs that talk about the Civil War and could be used within the classroom. These blogs allow you and your students to bring subject matter experts along with tons of primary and secondary source materials into your classroom.  You can view these blogs individually or add them to your RSS aggregator.

A Blog Divided: This blog from Dickinson College is “for anyone teaching or studying the House Divided Era, 1840 – 1880″

Civil War Memory: This blog contains the “reflections of a High School History Teacher and Civil War Historian” and was created by Kevin Levin. Kevin’s blog contains some great posts and links to various ways to teach about the Civil War.

Blog 4 History: This American History and Civil War History blog contains some great research articles that can be incorporated in numerous ways. I especially like the Demographics of the 11^th Wisconsin post and the Civil War in 90 Minutes or Less posts.

Civil War Librarian: This blog provides some very good reviews of books related to the Civil War as well as insights into authors and historians.

And last but certainly not least:

My Year of Living Rangerously: Ranger Mannie is a park ranger at Antietam National Battlefield and offers great insight and often behind the scene tours of that famous battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD.

Check out more of my favorite blogs on my Blog Roll on the left side of my home page.   If you know of one that I should add to my blog roll, leave me a comment and I’ll add them.

So, how will you be using blogs in your classroom? Let me know.

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The following is by far one of the best Civil War related websites for educators that I have seen.
MrNussbaums.com’s Civil War Page contains a wealth of activities and resources including:

• Interactive Battle Maps
• Civil War Timeline
• Cause and Effects of the Civil War
• People of the Civil War
• Union and Confederacy
• Civil War Activities
• Civil War Clip Art
• Civil War Videos

Let’s take a look at a few of these pages in more detail.

The Interactive Battles Map allows students to click on the name of a battle and it will pop up a brief description of the battle on the right side of the page. The map also shows Union vs. Confederate states, which side won a particular battle and more.

The People of the Civil War page provides some great information on many of the major players of the war including Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Harriet Tubman and Matthew Brady.

The Civil War Activities page includes “reading comprehension exercises, cloze reading exercises, sentence surgeons, word searches, jigsaws, crossword puzzles and much more.”

Be sure to take some time to explore this site and I’m sure you will want to share it with your class.

Until next time…

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